The One That Got Away
by RogueMetamorph
Summary: "...Tell me you never think about us," "Us?" "Yeah. Like you and me. Us," Abigail turned to look Tony in the eye. "I think about us... I think about us all the time," "And?" "I know that no matter how much we cared for each other-" "Loved each other, if I remember correctly..." Abigail Pierce was Tony's first rejection and his first love... Part of my Avengers series. OC/Tony.
1. The Introduction to Abigail

**The One That Got Away**

* * *

**Disclaimer:**** I don't own **_**Iron Man**_** (the movie, characters, dialogue, related TV shows, cartoons, comic books or etc.). I also don't own any other book, movie, song or character I may have mentioned along the way. I just so happened to use it for non-profitable fun in my spare time. **

**Author's Note:**** I would just like to tell you perfectionists that I have proudly bullshitted a lot of the dates and ages, so please don't be doing any math on the years or the ages of Tony or Abigail. I also have nothing against the police departments in Malibu California… ****ALSO this is going to be a part of a very long series. I plan on doing what Marvel did to the movies and have then all interconnected (which means were will be more of Abigail and Tony, a fan fiction with Loki and an OC, a fan fiction with Bruce and an OC and maybe even one with Clint and an OC...). ENJOY!**

* * *

**Chapter 1 – The Introduction to Abigail**

* * *

Abigail sighed in annoyance at one of the many Malibu Police Department's computer monitors. She'd been sitting there for a full hour trying to clean up a massive virus that their system had been infected with. Needless to say, she was having no luck with it. Apparently Malibu cops are willing to open anything entitled _**NUDE Pictures of SEXY Women: XXX**_.

Abigail Pierce had been working as an IT geek at her company for about ten years and this was about as interesting as it got during her work week. Instead of working on setting up systems for a big company or being hired away by the CIA, Abigail was here at the Malibu Police Department. Not to say that she didn't enjoy making short work of whatever issue was being had with various computer systems but… it wasn't the same as the years she'd spent underground with her hacker friends.

It also wasn't to say that Abigail wasn't good at her job and couldn't upgrade if she wanted. Very few people could argue that she didn't know what she was doing. She'd been around computers since she had moved in with her billionaire uncle at the age of eight who had owned the best computer software company of its time back in the day. She'd learned almost all of her computer and software knowledge from him, the rest had come years later from some of the best hackers in the US.

However, whoever had cooked up the virus in this particular computer system was a nasty and smart bastard. She sipped her coffee and groaned, rubbing at the temples. Her head had been pounding since she'd arrived, made worse from the obnoxious sounds and smells in the department. It didn't help that she'd forgotten to take her meds…

Was it day three?

Abigail was an epileptic, something about her mother's medical issues and meds had made her so in the womb. Of course, Abigail had been given the correct medication and had been taking the stuff for years… she just wasn't the best at continuity. Her Uncle Rick had always gotten on her about remembering to take her medication when she'd lived with him. It was almost whenever she went to visit him in Montana when she took her vacations.

He was a very intelligent man and one that liked to be in control at all times. He didn't like being afraid or worried. She could remember the time that she'd crashed his car barely two weeks after getting her license. He'd ran up to her, kissed, asked her if she was alright and then followed that up with screaming and yelling at her for the next few hours. He was protective like that but she liked being babied, especially by her Uncle Rick.

He'd been the only family she'd had for a very long time. After her father had left when she was just a young kid there had been no father figure. It had mostly been just her mom trying to work as many jobs as it took to get them by. She'd loved her mom to no end. It was eventually a car crash at the ripe age of eight that had nearly left her alone. However, her Uncle Rick had been there to pick her up out of the gutter.

It had been a bad situation at first because she'd hated her uncle for so many reasons that seemed stupid to her now. She'd hated him for being her dad's brother who'd left her and her mom alone. She'd hated him for not helping her mom out when she'd needed to work three jobs just to get by when her uncle had enough money to buy a home in Vienna. She'd hated him for not saving her mom. She'd hated him for not being there when she'd needed someone most.

But the hate had eventually faded into a civil companionship when she took an interest in computers. He'd gotten her a game that had given her her first lessons about code and she'd been absolutely hooked. The civil companionship had turned into friendship when he'd taken her under his wing to teach her everything he knew about computer software and about the company he ran. It was only when she got into her teens that she started to love her uncle like the father she thought of him as today. He'd been great to her and she owed him so much.

"You almost done?"

Abigail glanced over her shoulder at the man standing at the entrance of the cubical. He had the body of a boxer, not quite buff but could give and take a hit, however, Abigail doubted that this one could take many hits regardless of his physique. He just didn't seem like the type. From his uniform and name tag this was also the same officer that belonged to the cubical and computer. He was also probably the guy that was going to be doing extra work for a month at this cubical.

Abigail turned back to the computer and shook her head. "Not yet. Whatever was in that file has done a number on your guys' system," she told him, taking off her glasses she used for reading and pinched the bridge of her nose. "It's going to take some time,"

The officer growled, slamming his hand- palm open- into the cubical wall before walking off. She frowned at the adrenaline that ran up her spine and continued her work. Pounding away at her keyboard was a melodic way to ignore the chastising going on behind her. She kept her mind on her work and tried to figure out was the answer was to this particular puzzle. However trying to figure out the problem on its own was giving her a headache- not to mention having to ignore the arguments between officers and the various people inside the police department- but now she was pretty sure her own typing was giving her a headache.

And then it happened. That familiar tingling feeling that went up her spine and down her left arm, sparking at her fingertips. She knew exactly what was happening to her before she started to lose her sight and her eyes began to feel numb. The seizure was rocking her body before she could fully understand that she needed to get out of there. Now, much to Abigail's annoyance, she was having a seizure in the center of the Malibu Police Department. At least it wasn't in the disgusting little bathroom they had, lying on the ground where who knows what had been.

As if no time had passed, Abigail could suddenly feel voices near her and hear hands touching her skin but she was too far gone to care. All she knew was that she didn't have to deal with that pesky virus anymore. That was somebody else's problem.


	2. The Original Redhead

**The One That Got Away**

* * *

**Chapter 2 – The Original Redhead**

* * *

Tony Stark, owner, CEO, main inventor for Stark Industries, newly awarded… some award that he'd arrived here for, walked towards his sleek black limo. For the past few hours he'd been gambling away a small portion of his vast fortune and now he was ready to go home, preferably with someone. He'd had a sexy woman on his arm for most of the night but he'd left her behind at the tables. He'd prefer a woman that would inflate his ego, not one that leeched off whoever was scoring high at the crap tables. He was Tony Stark. He didn't have to stoop so low.

"Mr. Stark?! Excuse me! Mr. Stark!"

Tony didn't turn at the voice. He knew what kind of people called after him like this, especially when they used his last name. This was no doubt one of those snotty journalist women trying to get the digs on him. He mostly didn't mind them but he wasn't in the mood unless there was something in it for him. Most likely there wasn't.

"Christine Everhart, _Vanity Fair _magazine. Can I ask you a couple of questions?"

"She's cute," Happy whispered to Tony, making him pause.

"She's all right?"

Affirmative.

Tony spun around with his signature grin securely in place on his handsome face. He was met with nothing less than a very cute blonde walking up to him. She was definitely Tony's type and definitely worth the time it would take trying to convince her to come back to his house with him for the night. He might not have been lucky gambling earlier tonight thanks to his best friend Rhodey but he wasn't here to screw things up now. Tony was ready to try his luck for this one.

"Yeah," Tony nodded appreciatively at her. "Okay, go ahead. Ask away,"

"You've been called the Da Vinci of our time," she began, looking up at him with an official expression, holding out her tape recorder. "What do you say to that?"

"Absolutely ridiculous. I don't paint,"

"And what do you say to your other nickname… _The Merchant of Death_?" Christine asked, her face turning sour as her sweet smile turned into a glare Tony knew well. It was a look Tony was used to from disagreeing fans of his company- tree huggers, hippies, feminists, etc.- Tony was just happy for a challenge.

"That's not bad," Tony nodded thoughtful at the name. "It's an imperfect world but it's the only one we've got. I guarantee you the day weapons are no longer needed to keep the peace, I'll start making bricks and beams for baby hospitals,"

She arched a perfect eyebrow at him. "Rehearse that much?"

"Every night in front of the mirror before bedtime,"

"I can see that,"

"I'd like to show you first hand," Tony smirked, letting his eyes rove over her body lazily.

"All I want is a serious answer,"

"Okay, here's serious," Tony nodded, shifting his weight as he settled in for a debate. "My old man had a philosophy; '_Peace means having a bigger stick than the other guy_.' My father helped defeat the Nazis, he worked on the Manhattan Project. A lot of people would call that being a hero,"

"And a lot of people would also call that war profiteering considering Stark Industries is the guy selling the sticks,"

"Tell me," Tony began, his patience waning as he took of his sunglasses, leaning his head done toward her recorder. He wanted her to hear this next bit. "Do you plan to report on the _millions_ we've saved by advancing medical technology or kept from _starvation_ with our intelli-crops? All those breakthroughs; military funding, honey,"

She smiled at him sardonically, bitterness clinging to the lines of her face. "You ever lose an hour of sleep your whole life?"

"I'd be prepared to lose a few with you," Tony tried with a smirk.

Christine rolled her eyes at the playboy man-whore and his little flirtatious games. She could certainly say out of all the people she'd had to interfere in her whole career, Tony Stark was certainly the most interesting to talk to. He represented the challenge that a lot of the people she interviewed couldn't hold up to or just didn't have the interest in getting into with her. He wasn't afraid to talk about the hard topics that a lot of people answered in the most politically correct way or in the most evasive way. He was a journalist's dream.

He certainly was a looker as well.

For good measure, Christine gave him one more glare as she readied herself for her next question. She had been looking forward to asking him this ever since she'd taken the time to investigate the infamous Tony Stark. Not much fazed him, not much touched. However, she hoped that this next question would catch him by surprise, something few other reporters had been able to do.

She smiled at him sweetly, cocking her hip as she held the tape recorder closer to him. She wanted to get everything that he was about to spew. "One last question, Mr. Stark?"

"Please, call me Tony,"

"Tony…" she smiled. "I recently came across a few pictures from back when you were a teenager… and there as a girl that you seem to be friendly with?"

Tony stood still for a moment, his expression frozen in place. "I'm going to need you to give me a little more than that, Christine. I've met a lot of girls in my time,"

"Certainly," Christine nodded happily, feeling that the trap was about to snap. "You dated this girl from 1991 to 1993. She later moved away with her uncle after he lost his company to Stark Industries when they were nearly sent into bankruptcy and then was later bought," When he didn't react to any of this, Christine frowned at him trying again. "Do even remember her, Mr. Stark? The niece of the millionaire Richard Pierce, former owner of Pierce Enterprises before Stark Industries put them out of business?"

Now the smile that he'd been holding onto by a thread was completely gone, leaving behind a blank expression. It was only the twitch in his forehead that told Christine anything or the feigned nonchalance as he shifted his weight, crossing his arms tightly over his chest. This time there was no vibrato about Tony Stark, he was just hiding what he was really feeling about her words. Slowly, an easy but fake smile appeared that Christine could easily see through appeared on his face as he looked at her.

"What about Abigail?"

Christine watched him for a moment in interest before her mouth twitched at the corners. This was certainly a side to Tony Stark that she had never seen, and certainly the world hadn't either.

As far as Christine had been able to figure out, Abigail Pierce had been Tony Stark's sweetheart from ages sixteen to seventeen. The girl had been a computer genius through high school whilst Tony Stark had been finishing out his time at MIT. One of the pictures that the journalist had been surprised to find was one of a teenage Tony Stark with his arm wrapped around the girl, another of him kissing her cheek while the ginger girl grinned.

Abigail Pierce had been the daughter to Richard Pierce, owner of Pierce Enterprises, a computer programming and artificial intelligence manufacturer, the best of its time. It was his Pierce's pride and joy until Stark Industries put it out of business and forced them to sell. After that Richard and Abigail Pierce moved away from Malibu where she never contacted Tony again. Years later Abigail moved back to California to go to Stanford but disappeared off the face of the earth after dropping out a year later.

Soon after Abigail moved away Tony Stark had become the Tony Stark that the world had come to know; the boozing, partying, all around scoundrel. And now the journalist in Christine was intrigued by the change she saw in the billionaire at hearing about his old flame. What had happened between the two that would cause such a reaction in this man? Had he actually _loved_ her?

"So you _do_ remember her?"

She was much too smug for Tony's liking. The ball was in Christine's court and he was no longer in control. If he could have turned and left her standing there with nothing for her articles, he would have. It was so tempting to just leave now that his emotions were doing a jig on his chest. However, something kept him there… someone named Abigail.

When he'd known Abigail she'd been a pretty little redhead and the most beautiful smile Tony had ever seen in his young life. He had dated her, lost his virginity to her, fallen in love with her and then lost his heart to her.

"I remember her faintly," Tony nodded, shifting his weight again. "She was a sweet girl back then, I guess. But it wasn't my fault about what happened to Mr. Pierce's company. Companies come and go. His just couldn't stand the test of time, especially with Obadiah Stane in charge of Stark Enterprises at the time,"

"Ahh," she nodded, dropping her eyes to hide her smile. "I see. So you'd just like to ignore the fact that your girlfriend and her last living relative was one of the first people that you steam rolled in your days at Stark Enterprises?"

"Are we done, Miss Everheart?" Tony asked, stepping backwards towards his limo. "I've really got some important things to do and I believe your one question has been answered,"

Christine followed him, holding the tape recorder up again as she rushed to get out one final question that was bound to stop him in his tracks. "How are you handling the news of Miss Abigail Pierce's recent incident?"

Tony froze, balancing on his heels. What was that supposed to mean? He had no idea what Miss Everheart was implying with that statement and he worried what those words meant for Abigail. What "incident" had happened to Abigail? It had been years since he'd last seen her but that didn't mean that he didn't still care about her. In all honesty, a lot of things had been cut off in ways that left a lot of those feelings that he'd felt as a teenager alive in his heart. He'd loved her then and he was almost positive he'd never stopped.

"Incident?"

Christine stopped, seeming honestly surprised. "You don't know, do you?"

"Know what?" Tony asked her, losing his patience. "What happened?"

"Miss Pierce was rushed to the hospital this morning after having a major seizure. Luckily she was at the police department so she was rushed to the hospital almost instantly,"

"Which hospital?"

"Malibu Urgent Care Center," Christine told him, eyeing him carefully. "Can I get your reaction?"

Tony thought about it for a second before stepping back towards the limo, ready to get in as he put on his best face. "My reaction to this is… shock. How long has she been living in Malibu and not invited me over to catch up?" Tony quickly turned around and jumped into his limo, looking back at Christine with a smirk. "I hope you got what you came for. Night, gorgeous,"

The limo door slammed in her face leaving her shocked and completely unsatisfied.

"Malibu Urgent Care Center, Happy. _Now_,"

Happy had him there in less than thirty minutes.


	3. Malibu Urgent Care Center

**The One That Got Away**

* * *

**Chapter 3 – Malibu Urgent Care Center**

* * *

Tony had walked into that germ infested building with his hands close to his sides. He'd always hated hospitals, even when he was little. The only time he had ever gone into a hospital of his own free will was when Abigail had had her appendix out. He'd gone in with a bouquet of flowers and stayed with her until the nurse had forced him to leave. Luckily Abigail did not stay that long or else he probably would've lost it. He'd never liked sick things. Not only did he not like germs but he liked things he couldn't fix even less. Someone's health was one of the things he couldn't fix. He could fix machines. That's where he felt most comfortable.

But there he was, standing inside the eerily quiet hospital outside of one very special hospital room within the Malibu Urgent Care Center. He'd had to smile his way through a lot of red tape and procedures to be here. Apparently hospitals had visiting hours and eleven pm wasn't one of them. It had taken an extra half hour to get past it all but it was worth it.

He stood outside of Abigail's room, staring nervously through the window in at her. It should have been such a daunting task to open the door and walk in. It wasn't as if she were awake, it was just that the thought of seeing her again and talking to her was a little much.

Tony had half expected to see the girl that he had dated at seventeen. She'd been tall for a girl, curvier than skinny, a pretty thing with freckles and short ginger hair. However, Abigail looked much different, her long hair was no longer straight or ginger, but was now a gingerbread brown color, falling over her pillow in soft waves. She was also no longer the short, curvy girl he used to know either. Abigail was of average height for a woman, with only soft curves, unlike what Tony saw on his typical super model bedmates.

But, by far, Abigail was better than any of them.

He could still remember when he'd first met Abigail Pierce. He'd been sixteen when he'd seen her across the room at a big fancy party his parents had dragged him to. He'd been leaning against the wall bored out of his mind when he'd seen her. An angel in a light blue dress, ginger hair falling over her shoulder, ankles crossed as she sat on a couch in the corner across the room from him.

Tony had marched right over and sat down next to her, putting his arms over the back of the couch. She'd been awkward, brown eyes glancing over at him as if she'd hoped that he'd realize his mistake and leave. He introduced himself confidently, displaying his typical smile as she smile shyly at him, her wringing her hands.

"Abigail Pierce of Pierce Enterprises,"

"Nice to meet you, Abby," he'd smiled back, amused when her nose scrunched at the sound of the nickname. It would be later that he would learn that she didn't go by a nickname nor did she want to. Her father had called her Abby and so her mother had been hesitant to use it which was a tradition Abigail had other people follow. After her mother had died her uncle parents hadn't used the nickname either, just gave her the affectionate nickname of _Bug_.

After finally realizing that he was going to make her talk to him, Abigail had slowly become less awkward and shy as they talked. Tony, much to his surprise, learned that she'd known exactly three things about him, which was a surprise since his last name was Stark and he'd built his first motor at the age of seven. They talked and enjoyed each other's company until her uncle had arrived and swept her away to say goodbye to the rest of the party goers.

The very next day, after stealing her uncle's number from his father's address book, Tony had called her up. It was on as the dial tone was ringing in his ear that he realized that he might come ear to ear with her uncle and he'd have to talk his way around the man. Luckily for Tony, Abigail had been the one to answer. After listening to her shocked words when he'd told her who he was, Tony had suavely asked her out on a date.

"_Um… no thanks,"_

"_No thanks?" Tony repeated in shock, clutching the phone to his ear. No girls ever turned him down before. What the heck did no thanks mean? "Why?"_

"_I don't know you very well,"_

"_That's why you go on dates," he'd explained to her a bit desperately. "We start out friendly strangers that meet at a party. We go out on a date, talk and get to know each other. Then, before we know it, we are dating,"_

"_I'm sorry, Tony. My uncle wants me. I have to go-"_

"_Wait! What about-?"_

"_-Bye!" _

This continued on for another month. He'd ask her out and she would then mercilessly turned him down. However, after a month of determination, tenacious insistence, convincing, constant phone calls, bribing with flowers and gadgets, appearing at her house, tossing rocks at her window, laying across her car in nothing but a pair of jeans, that Abigail finally said yes.

After that first date Tony had quickly found himself head over heels in love with Miss Abigail Louise Pierce. She was just as much a sarcastic ass as he was though it was harder for her to be so harsh. Deep down she was just a people pleaser, shyly making her way through life until he brought out the worst in her. But even as shy as she'd been, she'd didn't let Tony have his way. She would argue with him tooth and nail or ignored him until he realized his idiocy and come crawling back. Unlike his father, Abigail wouldn't hold a grudge. She'd welcome his idiotic butt back with open arms. She'd also been intelligent, not only a computer geek like her uncle but just a smart girl in just about everything, even competent in the science world that Tony loved.

But two years later Tony's parents had died. Abigail had been the only one there for him as he silently mourned his loss. Even back then he was an emotionally screwed up individual. The only person who'd ever seen him cry was his mother when he was a baby. But Abigail had understood him, holding him when he needed it but he didn't ask. She knew almost all of the right things to say.

But a week later Obadiah Stane took over Stark Industries. He expanded the company in all directions. Though mostly he moved into working on weapons manufacturing, the computerizing side didn't not go unnoticed. Soon Stark Industries was in the same business as Pierce Enterprises. Tony and Abigail hadn't noticed until things grew worse. He could remember coming over to Abigail's house and feeling uncomfortable under her uncle's glare. Or having Abigail come over worried about her uncle.

And then Pierce Enterprises went under. He'd gone over to Abigail's house to find a very angry Richard Pierce who had nearly thrown him out. Abigail had saved him though, forcing Tony into her room and locking the door behind her. It was then that she started to ball her eyes out, covering her face with her hands. Tony had held her for over a half hour before Abigail was able to tell him what exactly was wrong. They were leaving.

And then she was suddenly gone.

"You're not supposed to be here,"

Tony looked up at the homely nurse. He immediately had a hate for her for no other reason than that he didn't want to have this argument again. He also didn't want to have to bribe her anything to stay when he'd come so close.

"I've already had this conversation, ma'am. I'm here to see Abigail Pierce,"

Her dull expression of a nurse changed into one of annoyance as she crossed her arms over her large chest and frowned up at him. "Are you the emergency contact we've been waiting for?"

This Tony could deal with. "Yes. Yes, I am,"

"I'm the nurse on duty. Gloria Blake. Good to meet you, Mr. Quinn," she greeted, shaking his hand once he'd let her have it. "I was told that you were in Pennsylvania and wouldn't be coming,"

"Sorry for the surprise," Tony smiled.

"Miss Pierce has been unconscious since she arrived," the nurse told him, naming of information with efficiency built of years. "After looking over her medical records we suspect it was because of not taking her medication for her epilepsy,"

Tony frowned, glancing over at Abigail. He could remember back when they'd been dating when her uncle would suddenly come into the room with pills for her to swallow down. Usually if that happened it was followed by a stern talking to for having forgotten to take them that morning. Never had Tony actually witnessed Abigail having a seizure and he was happy for that.

"As soon as she wakes up, the doctor would like to take a look at her but we suspect that there won't be any complications. She can go once she signs herself out. Her uncle was also listed as an emergency contact and has been informed of the situation. He won't be coming,"

"Thanks, Gloria," Tony smiled at her. "I appreciate the information,"

"Would you like to go in and sit with her?"

Tony suddenly froze, frowning a little at her.

The nurse looked through the window at the woman lying on the hospital bed before giving a small smile. "Go on in. She won't bite,"

At the nurse's insistence Tony hesitantly made his way into Abigail's room, closing the door softly behind him. With his back to the doorknob, he tried gathered his courage to enter the room and sit down next to her. However, the damn beeping emanating from the heart monitor wasn't doing anything to make Tony feel any better. Being in a room with someone in a hospital gown lying unconscious on one of those beds just seemed to remind him how much he hated hospitals. But for Abigail, he sat down in the uncomfortable 70s styled chair.

The last time he'd seen this girl she'd been in a pair of jeans and an oversized t-shirt, her ginger hair pulled over her shoulder in a ponytail. It had been just after Obadiah Stane- the man who had taken over Stark Industries until Tony was old enough- had forced Pierce Enterprises to close and sell. Tony had been upset with Obadiah but hadn't realized what this had meant for him and Abigail. He'd gone over to Abigail's house to find a very angry Richard Pierce who had nearly thrown him out. Abigail had saved him though, forcing Tony into her room and locking the door behind her. It was then that she started to ball her eyes out, covering her face with her hands. Tony had held her for over a half hour before Abigail was able to tell him what exactly was wrong.

They were leaving.

And after that Tony never got to say goodbye.

Now she was lying in front of him, no longer the ginger girl he remembered. She was a woman with cinnamon colored hair that was lying unconscious in a hospital with an emergency contact known as Mr. Quinn. Things had changed over the years but one thing hadn't.

She was the one that got away from him.

Movement made Tony focus himself and quiet his thoughts, focusing on the woman that he hadn't seen in many years.

Abigail Pierce groaned as she tried to shift in the bed she was in, being stopped by something attached to her thumb. She frowned at it, trying to tug away from it so that she could sleep on her side. She didn't like sleeping on her back nor could she fall asleep while lying on her back. But when the thing on her thumb wouldn't go away, she opened her eyes.

She blinked against the dim light in her room until a ceiling came into view that she didn't recognize at all. It was popcorn ceiling with yellow light and a "wooden" door that reminded her of her workplace. This was most definitely a hospital ceiling; she'd seen enough of them to know when she was looking at one.

Abigail turned her head groggily and found herself face to face with a familiar man. It took her longer than it should have to bring up a name to his face; his broad chest, slicked black hair and goatee threw her off. This man had once been a boy she knew well, a tall lanky boy she met at one of her uncle's parties. He'd been sweet, smart, confident and adorable. Now he just seemed like what a handsome billionaire is supposed to look like; tall, thick (whether it was around the chest or stomach depended on the billionaire), all of the confidence in the world, the air of money and in clothes more expensive than her first clunker car.

"You have a goatee," Abigail murmured without thinking about it, her eyebrows drawing together as she eyed it. "It suits you better,"

Tony chuckled at her. "Thanks for the approval,"

"What happened?"

"Well, from what I heard, you had a seizure this morning right in the middle of the Malibu Police Department," he told her, watching as the realization hit her and she groaned. "You were brought here and they called your emergency contacts,"

Abigail groaned, laying an arm across her eyes in annoyance. "Uncle Rick's going to kill me,"

"Who's Quinn?"

She peaked at him from under her arm, her expression dull. "My ex,"

"Boyfriend?"

"Husband,"

His eyebrows shot towards his hairline as he took this bit of information in. "You were married?"

She nodded.

"What happened? Did you have kids?"

She sighed, removing the arm from her face as she turned towards him. "We got married after knowing each other for a while but after four years we realized that we weren't meant for each other. No kids, no dogs, no two car garages,"

Tony seemed to deflate back into his chair, letting out a long breath. As she watched him, her eyebrows drew together. It had been years since she'd last seen him, over fifteen if she thought about it. As far as she knew, he'd had no idea that they'd been living in the same city for the last nine of them.

"What are you doing here, Tony?"

"I came to see you," he told her with a shrug, clasping his hands over his chest as he leaned back away from her. "How are you doing?"

"Good," Abigail shrugged, her eyes closing as she tried to get warm. The fact was that most hospital blankets didn't provide a lot of warmth nor did the preserve any of the boy heat that she could usually generate. This was one of those blankets. "I came in for a checkup and they figured they'd just set me up with a fancy room with a new heart monitor and everything. I'm fine,"

"You don't look fine," he told her plainly, making her open her eyes to glare at him more effectively. "You were just admitted for having a seizure but you look like you had a house dropped on you. And when's the last time you took a shower?"

"You should write a book. _How To Insult A Woman In A Sentence Or Less_," Abigail told him, wishing she could turn over on her other side. Unfortunately the thing strapped to her thumb kept her from being able to do so. That was one thing that she should have remembered about Tony. Him not wanting to admit emotion meant he told jokes. "It's good to see you too, Tony… even if you look like a mob boss from a B rated movie. What is going on with that hair of yours? I might have nightmares now,"

"For your information, this is supposed to be the sexiest hairdo of the year,"

"Somebody lied,"

Abigail could remember back when his hair had been a curly mop that flopped across his forehead in the most attractive way. She used to enjoy playing with it whenever they were watching movies or if they were lying on the floor in her house, his head on her stomach. But it was shorter now and straighter and slicked back with _way _too much hair gel, making his look older than she knew he really was. She was almost certain that if she lit a match near him his head would catch fire.

Tony smirked at her. "The nurse said that you can get out of here as soon as the doctor gets a look at you,"

"Great," she smiled, pressing the call button.

"She also told me that she called your uncle,"

Abigail's eyes were immediately on him, hoping desperately that he was kidding. After a moment of realizing that Tony wasn't about to say _Gotcha_, Abigail's head flopped back onto her pillow with a groan. She could remember when her mother had given her her medication when she was a little kid and she'd never had to remember on her own. She could remember her first seizure with her uncle, how afterward he'd been so thoroughly freaked out that she'd started crying and apologizing. She could also remember all of the times that he'd chastised her for forgetting to take her meds when she was a teenager. She could even remember when she'd moved back to Montana to live with him after disappearing off the grid for almost five years. He'd asked her every day if she'd taken her meds and had eventually just had the bottle sitting next to her milk at dinner.

He was going to call her when she got home and he was going to be pissed.

"Why isn't he here?"

"He's still living up in Montana," Abigail explained to him as she heard people approaching. "But that doesn't keep him from calling to make sure I've taken my meds,"

"Apparently he missed a call,"

She stuck her tongue out at him just as the doctor walked in.

He didn't see her with his tongue out though. He was occupied with her chart that was already in his hands, his eyes squinting as he quickly read through it. He was an incredibly tall man- at least six foot six- with a shaved head that glinted in the light. The nurse next to him was the same one that Tony had met earlier; a portly nurse with thin grey hair pulled into a tight bun at her neck.

"Hello again, Miss Pierce," the doctor said, glancing up at her over his chart. "How are you feeling tonight?"

"Fine. No complications or issues,"

"Have you been taking your meds?"

Abigail slowly nodded though she didn't meet the doctor's eyes, looking all too guilty. The doctor didn't seem convinced either.

"Well, you need to make sure to take them and keep yourself healthy," the doctor told her as he dropped his hands to his sides. "Try not to get too stressed either or else we will be seeing you again,"

She nodded. "Thank you,"

A smile quickly replaced the fatherly look as the doctor nodded. "Alright. Take care,"

The doctor stepped forward to shake her hand before his attention was suddenly stolen by the man sitting in the hospital chair beside her.

"Tony Stark?! What a surprise," the doctor grinned, moving over to shake Tony's hand. "Why are you here? Trying to convince this poor girl to give you her liver to replace yours?"

"No. I have donors lined up for that," Tony said with a straight face, making the three adults give him a strange look before he cracked a smile.

"You're horrible," Abigail smiled, rolling her brown eyes at him.

"I've been told and I thoroughly agree," Tony nodded, completely serious.

"Mr. Stark?" the nurse repeated, apparently not one for the news. "You mean that you aren't Mr. Quinn who would be allowed to be here after hours?"

Tony smiled. "Maybe,"

About a half hour later, Tony had not been thrown out on his butt. Instead, he had been allowed to stay as Abigail got all of the tape off, had all of the needles pulled out of her arm and had finished her release forms. Ready to leave as quickly as she could, she changed into her own clothes and headed down to the lobby to call for a cab. The two had just exited the elevator and Abigail was just turning towards the payphone. But she was stopped by Tony, who had been texting on his phone, when he noticed her heading in the wrong direction.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm calling for a cab,"

"No. You're coming with me,"

"Where?"

"I'm taking you home. Now, come on,"

"You don't know where I live,"

"Then I guess you'll have to come home with me,"

Abigail frowned at him, removing her arm from his grasp. "No,"

"Why not? I wasn't asking you to sleep with me or anything," Tony told her, a frown trying to show how much he'd been offended. "I just thought we could catch up, talk about times, and you can check up on Jarvis,"

This caught her attention. "You still have Jarvis?"

"Of course. He's the best thing I ever created for myself,"

"_We_ created," she corrected with a smirk. "I was the one with the artificial intelligence knowledge and the computer tech,"

"_I_ was the one with the idea and came up with the name," Tony argued.

Abigail crossed her arms over her chest stubbornly. "If I remember correctly- which I do- _I_ was the one that named him,"

"Oh… well, then," Tony said in mock-sadness at being proved wrong.

Abigail watched him for a long moment, looking between him and the door as she tried to decide which the better route was. She wasn't sure what it would mean to have Tony take her home. Not only was she certain that her uncle would be furious at her for even speaking with Tony, let alone getting in a car with him, but a lot of things had gone unsaid when she'd suddenly been forced to leave California by her uncle. Not to mention a lot had happened over the last eighteen years. Abigail had learned a lot over that course of time and had gotten married. Tony was practically a completely different person from the boy she'd dated. They might have conversed back and forth when she'd first woken up but that didn't mean that things were just the same.

"Come on, Abs,"

She sighed, looking up into his brown eyes. She couldn't have said no to Tony at sixteen and she still couldn't so many years later. Resigned to her fate, she walked back over to him, making him smile at his victory as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

The night was cold when they stepped out of the hospital but as always, it was a relief. The night air- even in Malibu- had a level of clean to it that no building could ever achieve no matter how much cleaner they used. She took a deep breath of it, wrapping her big grandfather sweater tightly around her body to try to ward away the cold. Tony pulled her closer into his side, sharing his annoying large amount of warmth with her as he led her towards a luxurious black car she didn't know the name of. Out from the driver's seat stepped a tall thick man who smile at the two of them as they walked up, opening the door for her while Tony got in on the other side.

"Thanks," she smiled awkwardly, slipping inside before he closed the door behind her.

Inside was probably twice as luxurious. The white leather was soft under her butt, every inch of the car pristine and bright. The smell was even exactly like a new car except for the unmistakable smell of the hospital Tony and she had dragged in. The ride as the chauffer drove was even smooth to the point that it barely jostled her.

Abigail tentatively curled up in her seat without getting her shoes on the seat. She wrapped her sweater closer around her as the heat from the vents began to work its way into the back. She rested her forehead against the cold glass of her window, looking at the dim lights of the city as they flashed past her. She ended up blocking out Tony as he talked to someone on his ever popular phone, closing her eyes as her eye lids grew heavy.

She just needed to close her eyes for a minute, just to rest them. She needed to stay awake so that she could get up and go to bed herself. But she just wanted to rest her eyes for a second. She wasn't going to fall asleep.

Tony was on his phone with Pepper, telling her he was bringing home a girl and to make preparations for her. Pepper however couldn't wrap her mind around the fact that he was bringing home a girl he wasn't going to sleep with or didn't want out of the house before seven o'clock. After a few minutes of convincing Pepper otherwise Tony made sure that she knew to pick up some actual food, an extra set of women's clothes before she came over to his house tomorrow.

Once he hung up he glanced over at the woman next to him to find Abigail asleep, her forehead pressed against the window, her small figure hidden under the big sweater she had wrapped around her. Tony found her incredibly attractive right then, despite her unflattering clothing, messy hair and smudged make up. He'd always found her attractive despite the millions of examples of model styled women out there. He didn't know why but Abigail managed to be more gorgeous to him than nearly every woman. But, at the moment, Tony turned away from her and looked out the window, determined not to let her get to him.

"She seems cute,"

Tony glanced up towards the rearview mirror, frowning at the smug set of eyes that met his.

"Shut up, Happy,"


	4. Orange Juice

**The One That Got Away**

* * *

**Chapter 4 – Orange Juice **

* * *

Abigail woke up wrapped around her pillow, the sound of the sea in her ears.

But she didn't live that close to the ocean nor did her bed feel as if she was lying on a cloud. Whatever bed she was on certainly wasn't hers. This bed made her own bed feel like cardboard laid over springs and her bed was pretty damn comfy. She sighed and rolled over onto her back before slowly opening her eyes to an unfamiliar darkness.

"_Hello, Miss Pierce_,"

Abigail's eyes went wide before sat up with enough speed to make her head spin. She was in a strange room and, as a few seconds went by, the lights came on and the windows cleared to show a beach scene. The room had barely anything in it but what furniture was there looked expensive compared to what was in her apartment. And then there was the best view of Malibu California's coast she'd ever seen in real life just outside her window.

"Jarvis?" she asked carefully, running a hand through her static-y hair.

"_Yes, Miss Pierce__?_"

"Where am I?" she asked, slowly climbing out of the heavenly bed, wrapping her grandfather sweater tightly around her before padding over to the window.

"_You are in the guest room of Tony Stark's home in Malibu, California. It is currently 5:53 a.m. and Miss Potts would like to be informed when you have awoken. May I inform her now, Miss Pierce_?"

"Sure. Thanks, Jarvis,"

Back when Tony and her had been dating they'd tried making their very own AI program with a mixture of Abigail's brilliance and Tony's tech. Back then Jarvis had been a low level AI with the ability to learn your name and say hello. Apparently, after many years, Tony had kept him and updated him to the point of an AI that ran his home better than Alfred Pennyworth. It was impressive.

Not a minute later there was a gentle knock on the door before Miss Pepper Potts walked into the room with a pile of clothes in hand. She looked an awful lot like Abigail had when she was younger except Pepper's hair was much lighter and had a sweeter face though it was masked by a serious expression. Pepper wore a dress suit with a pencil skirt, her hair up in a high ponytail with her bangs hanging over her forehead, a clipboard also in her hands.

"Good morning. I have another set of clothes here for you to change into. The bathroom is through there if you'd like to shower. There is food in the kitchen downstairs. And Tony would like to see you once you're ready,"

"You must be the famous Pepper Potts," Abigail smiled, seeming to have ignored all that Pepper had just said, stepping forward to shake Pepper's hand politely. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Abigail Pierce. Thank you for getting me these, I probably smell rancid. But, on the other hand, you probably do this a lot… or at least, something similar to this,"

Pepper let a small smile appear on her face as she remembered the various girls that she'd had to take care of for her employer. "Yes. I do anything and everything that Mr. Stark requires, including occasionally taking out the trash,"

Abigail laughed. "That has to be the best way I have ever heard that put,"

After a quick shower she changed into some new clothes- a blue V-neck shirt that was a little tight and a pair of yoga that were a little loose, putting on her sweater over it all- and then headed down stairs. Though the house was large it wasn't hard for her to find her way around. The size was mostly spent on the size of the rooms, not the number of them. She easily found the living room where a certain red head typing away on her computer, her cell phone wedged between her ear and her shoulder, talking low and fast into the receiver. Abigail decided to let her be and moved on to the kitchen, searching around for something to eat. She decided to steal the water bottle shaped orange juice container, drinking straight from the bottle and then taking it with her as she returned to the living room to find Pepper waiting for her.

"So where's Tony?"

Pepper led her down a flight of stairs off of the living room. Most stairs that lead down into a basement- or in this case workshop that was half garage and half converted workshop for Tony's inventions - usually felt like one is descending into the earth. These however, gave her no feelings of claustrophobia, partly contributed to the glass wall that allowed her to see into the workshop even before she'd entered it. At the bottom of the stairs, Pepper pressed three numbers into the holographic screen, shutting off the loud music and opening the door.

"Please don't turn down my music," Tony said immediately without turning around.

He was sitting beside his hotrod, several of its parts scattered around him on a sheet as he took it apart. The car was a black hotrod with red flames along the sides that looked to have once been a model T. Personally, she thought looked like it was having a really bad day.

She then walked the rest of the way into the room behind Pepper.

"You are supposed to be halfway around the world right now," Pepper said back, ignoring him as she pulled out her trusty clipboard.

"How's my hair?" Both of the women gave a confused look to the back of Tony's head before he finished what he was doing and turned to smirk at Abigail, moving to sit on the wheel of his car. "You, Miss Abigail Pierce, said I looked like a mob boss from a B rated movie. _So_… how do I look?"

Abigail's face melted into a smile before she rolled her brown eyes at the millionaire playboy and crossed her arms over her chest, eyeing him for a long moment. She took in the freshly washed dark brown hair that flopped over his forehead, no longer the curly mop he used to have, but definitely still handsome on Tony.

"Much better. _Now_ you look like a human being," she teased, making Pepper let out a snort before she tried to cover up with a polite cough.

"Good," he smiled.

Tony took Abigail in one quick glance before he turned back to his hotrod, pulling up a plate to look at in the light. She was wearing her new clothes which fit her poorly but she still had on her big sweater which hid her body from him, an orange juice bottle awkwardly stuffed into one of the pockets. Her cinnamon colored hair was darkened and wet from a shower and was pulled back into a loose bun, a great deal of shorter hair coming loose and hanging around her face and neck.

She was just as gorgeous now as she was last night and all of the nights he had seen her as a sixteen and seventeen-year-old. He never lost interest in her. But he pushed Abigail out of his mind and focused on the plate before he turned his attention to Pepper who still stood behind him.

"So why are you trying to hustle me out of here?"

"Your flight was scheduled to leave an hour and a half ago," Pepper told him, flipping through the files on her clipboard before she looked back up at him again, pen ready. "But I need to speak to you about a couple things before I get you out of the door,"

"That's funny. I thought- with it being my plane and all- that it would just wait for me to get there. Doesn't it kind of defeat the whole purpose of having your own plane if it departs before you arrive?"

"Larry called…"

Abigail blocked them out as she walked through Tony's workshop, looking around at the various forgotten projects, files, cars and tech. Every sweep of her eyes brought to her attention something new that intrigued her. But mostly it was just the elaborate computer system she'd spotted with the same holographic look to it as the rest of the systems in the house. She was intrigued and felt her fingers itching to tough the screen where the keyboard would be and taking a look inside the system herself.

"Okay. _You_,"

Abigail jumped in surprise, spinning around as she hid her itchy fingers behind her back. She quickly looked over at Tony as innocently as she could, watching as he pointed at her.

"Who, me?"

"Yes, you. _You_ are coming with _me_," he told her, a hint of a smile playing on the corners of his mouth as he watched her guilty form.

"Where?"

"To a demo of one of Stark Industries new missiles. We can catch up, talk, laugh-"

"That's what you said last night,"

"You're the one who fell asleep on the way home,"

"True,"

"So will you come with me?"

"… Where exactly is this demo?"

"In a warzone,"

Her eyes went wide with shock, sure that Tony had gone crazy in the years they'd been apart. "A _warzone_? You want me to come with you to Iraq?"

"Afghanistan actually,"

"You're crazy," she said instantly, sitting down in Tony's favorite chair, resting her head against the brown leather headrest, crossing her legs as she looked up at him.

"That's what people keep saying. I don't see where they could possibly get that impression," Tony said seriously before he grinned down at her as she crossed her arms over her chest and looked away from him. "Come on. It'll be fun. I'll even call off the flight attendant stripers,"

"Very funny, Tony," she murmured, trying not to smile as she looked up at him again.

"Who said I was kidding?" he said, giving her a strange look before he walked off, dialing a number into his phone before he held it up to his ear.


	5. In A Warzone

**The One That Got Away**

* * *

**Chapter 5 – In A Warzone **

* * *

An hour later Abigail was trying to decide whether keeping her eyes shut or having them open was better when riding in a car with Tony driving. He was currently driving his sports car at breakneck speeds down the curvy highways of California, his maniacal laugh filling the car. She typically liked driving over the speed limit on the highway, especially in her uncle's corvette… but this felt like her last minutes on Earth.

The whole way to the airport she'd had a death grip on her seat and on the handle above the window, her only comfort being the music that was pumping out of the speakers, the bass making her seat vibrate. When the car finally stopped with a sudden jilt she let out the breath she'd been holding and relaxed in her seat.

"Ready?"

Abigail turned her head and glared at Tony as he just grinned and got of his car, leaving her to follow as he joked with Happy. She sat for a moment in her seat, trying to bring down her heartbeat as she took in a deep breath, placing her hand on the doorknob. She got out of the car, taking her sad little knapsack for the three day trip from Happy before she moved to follow Tony who was making his way to his plane.

"What's wrong with you?" a very annoyed figure in an army uniform asked, standing next to the entrance to the plane.

"What? I got caught up with an old friend. Talking, laughing, reminiscing," Tony explained, before gesturing back down the steps toward her. "Rhodey, I'd like you to meet an old friend of mine, Abigail Pierce. Abs, this is Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes,"

"A pleasure to meet you, ma'am," Rhodey smiled, holding his hand out.

Abigail took it. "A pleasure to meet you, Colonel,"

"Name's Rhodey to you,"

"Then call me Abigail,"

"She'll be coming with us,"

Rhodey's eyes immediately went to Tony as he moved past him and onto the plane. "Tony, I don't really think that's a-"

"How long have you been waiting on us? Three hours? We're waiting on you now. Let's go. Wheels up! Rock and roll!"

"I'm sorry for being late," Abigail told Rhodey, as Happy walked past them with Tony's bags. "I had no idea and Pepper was trying to get him out the door as fast as she could,"

"It's alright. I'm used to it by now. And at least _you_ apologize,"

"Here," Abigail smiled, pulling on his sleeve to get him to bend down enough for her to place a gentle kiss on his jaw. "Feel better now?"

"Hey!" The two looked over to see Tony leaning out of the plane, giving Abigail a sad puppy-dog look not letting the jealous show on his face. "When do _I_ get one of those?"

She just smirked at him as she gently shoved his shoulder and walked past him. "When _you_ stand around waiting for three hours for a playboy billionaire,"

Tony frowned at her back, ignoring the masculine chuckle he heard from behind him.

Over the next twenty-four hour flight to the Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, the three people got to know each other. Rhodey and Abigail asked each other questions about their jobs, their families, how they came to know Tony. Abigail and Tony took time to reminisce, telling stories of their dating to Rhodey who'd laugh maniacally at some of them. This of course turned into Rhodey and Abigail ganging up on the poor billionaire, telling some of the most embarrassing stories about him.

"It was one of our earlier dates," Abigail was explaining to Rhodey, Tony frowning as he was trying to figure out which story this one was. "It was just after we were able to drive with other people in the car. Tony wanted to take me to the fair-"

"Oh no,"

"-so he picked me up and we went down to the fairgrounds," Abigail smiled. "I enjoyed finding out that Tony had a pretty good throwing arm. He won me a gigantic purple giraffe which I still keep in my storage locker in Montana-"

"Really? That's sweet. Next story,"

She turned to look at him. It wasn't hard. Her back was pressed into the side of the plane whilst her legs were lying across the seat, her feet in his lap. It wasn't her fault she was in this position. During their conversations, Tony had reached under the table and pulled her legs up. It had been a story about her shoes and feet but he hadn't pushed her feet off yet. And she was comfortable.

"Would you stop interrupting? It's very rude,"

Tony frowned, looking down at her boots, tugging on the lace.

"Anyway," she started again, looking over at Rhodey. "There was this one ride that I absolutely loved when I was a kid. It's called the Zipper. It has three arms that have three arms attached to them with a seat coming off. They all spin and you basically get flung around at a million miles an hour,"

"So what happened?"

"_Nothing_,"

"I insisted that we go on it at least five times," she explained, smiling over at Tony. "However, that was only after we'd both eaten around two corn dogs, an three elephant ears, a thing of curly fries, shared a soda, eaten some candy and two ice cream cones,"

Rhodey frowned, his face scrunching up at the thought of that much food and then the ride that she'd described.

"Needless to say Tony ended up getting sick in a nearby trash can," she continued, rubbing Tony's arm as he frowned down at his sandwich that he'd been eating. To this Rhodey laughed, leaning over the table as the entire plane filled with his loud laughs. "I had to drive him home with a couple of plastic bags that one of the stand owners let us have. By the time he was as white as a sheet and I was about to vomit from the smell,"

"All your fault,"

She rolled her eyes, pulling her legs off his lap to sit up correctly. "I put him to bed, setting a garbage bin beside him, a glass of water and my giraffe for comfort,"

"It stared at me,"

"And before I left I gave both of them a kiss on the cheek,"

Abigail leaned over and kissed Tony on the cheek in response, making Rhodey's laughing continue at the surprised shock on Tony's face. She'd been too busy with Rhodey's next story, however, to see Tony's mouth twitch into a grin.

Twenty hours of reminiscing, questions, naps, laughing at bad jokes, and Rhodey and Abigail ganging up on Tony later, the plane landed. Tony was the first of the group off of the plane, wearing a fancy blue suit and a frown, a little annoyed at Rhodey and Abigail who'd constantly told embarrassing stories about him.

Abigail smirked at the back of Tony's head as she came off the plane next. She was still in her civilian clothes, her knapsack on her back and her hair flying around her as a hot breeze caught it. She'd thoroughly enjoyed talking with Tony's friend and reminiscing over old times with Tony. The best had been hearing Rhodey's stories about the great Tony Stark. Though they seemed far and few between in comparison to her own, they were still a joy to listen to. It also enjoyable to watch Tony's ears glow red as he shrank down in his seat, trying not to show how embarrassed he was.

Rhodey was next to come off the plane, putting on a pair of sunglasses to protect his eyes from the hot sun. As he stepped out, he donned his army face with the same efficiency that he donned his ACU, quickly and with years of practice to get it right.

He looked down the steps coming of the plane and watched one of his best friends and new friend make their way to the generals and army leaders, letting a smile play across his face. He hoped that Tony would get smart and work out whatever had happened all of those years ago with Abigail. He was sure that she'd been the best thing to ever happen to Tony, despite the fact that they'd both only been seventeen, but he was firm in his belief that she'd been good for him. And maybe she'd be able to knock some sense back into him.

Once the introductions were made between the generals and the party, they all piled into Humvees and were driven out into the uninhabited desert for the demo. Abigail tried to stay out of the way as best she could, staying close to Tony and Rhodey as well as she could until they got to the actual demo sight. Once there she stayed near the Humvees as Tony did his spiel which ended with several large explosions and a shockwave that sent a wall of hot air at Tony, Rhodey and the army generals, nearly knocking everyone off their feet.

Abigail rolled her eyes as Tony walked toward her with a smirk on his face, grabbing a scotch from a cooler that opened just as he walked by. "I'll be throwing one of these in with every purchase of 500 million or more. To peace!" he said, raising his glass and taking a drink before he stopped in front of her. "What'd you think? Impressed?"

"Hardly," she smiled crossing her arms over her chest as she leaned against the corner of the Humvee. "The whole presentation was a bit flowery for me and you weren't the least bit believable, not that you need to be. Although I _did_ like the '_I respectfully disagree. I prefer the weapon you only have to fire _once.' That was very tasteful,"

Tony smirked at her over the top of his scotch glass. "Thank you. Thought that up all by myself,"

"Oh, you did, did you?" she smiled at him, nodding as she teased him, their faces growing closer and closer together. She could smell the scotch on his breath and feel the warmth of his breath on her nose he was so close… until a small chirping sound issued from Tony's pocket making him groan as he stepped away from her to answer it. Flipping it open, Tony was met with a half-naked Obadiah Stane smiling at him from bed.

"Obie, what are you doing up?"

Abigail felt the smile immediately drop from her face, an age old hatred for Tony's childhood mentor igniting in her chest. It wasn't often that she _hated_ someone, especially with such a thoughtless hate that she had for him. It was mostly her Uncle Rick's influence that set the flame alight in her chest but she couldn't stop it no matter what. As far as she knew, Obadiah was a good man. He'd taken over the part as CEO until Tony was old enough, had always been a mentor for Tony, was a good business man who was relatively nice to everyone whether it was feigned or not. Abigail shouldn't have hated him but she did.

"_That bastard took my company from me_," she could hear her uncle ranting. "_The Starks and I had been friends, collaborators for years. As soon as they were gone he started up that god damned division and stole all my customers and deals out from under me! If I could just get my hands on him_,"

That was one of the few things that really made her uncle angry. He almost never yelled, almost never really got angry or held a grudge. However, Obadiah and Stark Industries was something that tossed him over the edge into a rage.

Her mood instantly soured, turning away from Tony to look out at the charred hills as he talked to his childhood mentor.

"_I couldn't sleep till I found out how it went_,"

"It went great. Looks like Christmas is coming early this year,"

"_Hey! Way to go, my boy! I'll see you tomorrow, yeah?_"

"Speaking of Christmas, why aren't you wearing those pajamas I got you?"

"_Good night, Tony_,"

She heard Tony's phone flip shut and Tony's shoes crunching the ground as she approached her. She kept her eyes on the brown and black desert, eyeing where one of the "little" explosions had occurred on their side of the mountains. It looked like a star except that it had one extra-long leg that made it lopsided.

"What's up, buttercup?" Tony sang at her, nudging her playfully.

She looked up at him as if just realizing he was there and gave him a halfhearted smile, straightening. "Nothing. We ready to head back?"

Tony nodded, not seeming to notice her mood too much before he led her to the closest Humvee, jumping in as Rhodey came up to them. "I'm sorry, this is the Fun-vee, the Hum-Drum-vee is back there," Tony said, waving him off as she rolled her eyes in the seat next to him.

"Nice job," Rhodey told Tony with feigned annoyance before he looked in through the window at her. "Take care of him," She gave him a smile and a salute before Rhodey made his way to the Humvee farther down the line.

"See you back at base,"

What followed as they drove across the barren landscape back to base was nearly a full thirty minute window of awkward silence. Abigail on the hard back seat sipping at what was left of her too warm orange juice watching the awkwardness before her. Tony sat to her right, sipping at the drink that clinks against the sides of the glass. The three soldiers that were accompanying occasionally glanced over at Tony, not bothering to speak.

"I feel like you're driving us to court-martial. This is crazy. What did I do?" Tony finally spoke up, looking at them all, smiling back at Abigail. "I feel like you're going to pull over and snuff me. What, you're not allowed to talk?"

"We can talk, sir,"

"Oh, I see, so it's personal,"

"No. You intimidate them," the soldier driving told him, the female smiling back at Tony while keeping her eyes on the road.

"Good God, you're a woman. I honestly… I couldn't have called that. I mean, I'd apologize, but isn't that what we're going for here? I thought of you as a soldier first. You have, actually, excellent bone structure, there. I'm kind of having a hard time not looking at you now. Is that weird?"

That made all of them let out a laugh, Abigail rolling her eyes but smiling despite it.

"Come on. It's okay. Laugh,"

The soldier in front of Tony turned around in his seat. "Sir, I have a question to ask,"

"Yes, go ahead,"

"Is it true you went twelve for twelve with last year's _Maxim_ cover models?"

"That is an excellent question," Tony nodded, completely serious as he answered. "Yes and no. March and I had a scheduling conflict but fortunately the Christmas cover was twins. Anything else?"

Beside him, the youngest of their group raised his hand.

"You're kidding me with the hand up, right?"

"Is it cool if I take a picture with you?"

"Yes. It's very cool,"

The boy smiled and a camera materialized out of his pocket. He quickly handed it to his comrade in the front seat as Tony and he leaned toward each other. Abigail tried to move out of the way as she best she could, pressing herself against Tony's side of the Humvee waiting for the picture to be taken.

"I don't want to see this on your MySpace page," Tony warned sarcastically, glancing down at the hand between them holding up a peace sign. "Please, no gang signs," The boy put it down quickly, the smile disappearing for a second before Tony turned to him again. "No, I'm kidding. Throw it up," The smile returned as the peace sign did. "Yeah, peace. I love peace. I'd be out of a job with peace,"

"Come on. Just click it. Don't change any settings,"

Abigail's heart nearly jumped out of her chest when she saw the Humvee in front of them suddenly explode, several pieces of it hitting the hood of their our vehicle. She grabbed onto her seat as their Humvee screeched to a stop, nearly sending them into a fishtail at the suddenly force of their stopping. Fear ran through her like a cold electric shock as everyone started yelling around her, explosions and guns going off outside the Humvee.

"What's going on?"

"Contact left!"

"What have we got?"

"Jimmy, stay with Stark and the girl!"

"Stay down!"

"Yeah,"

"Son of a bitch!"

"Wait, wait, wait! Give me a gun!"

"Stay here!"

Another explosion went off and Abigail's ears started to ring, the world becoming a dull thrum in her head with occasion pops of sounds. Tony suddenly grabbed her by the shoulders and yanked her out of the back of the Humvee and forced her outside, keeping her head down as he forced them behind a rock for cover.

She wasn't crying, wasn't screaming and wasn't freaking out. The only reaction she seemed to be having to the whole thing was surprise and the need to survive. She stayed down, covering her ears, as Tony stayed crouched down near her, pulling out his phone, typing desperately as he trying to remain calm enough to hit the right buttons. She watched him until she heard a dull thump beside her as something landed. She looked over to find a burrito sized missile sitting beside them, a Stark Industries label on the side. Both of them cussed in unison just before it went off.

Abigail went flying through the air, a second of weightlessness before she landed hard. A resounding pop that seemed louder than the rest met her ears as she hit the ground hard. She landed awkwardly, wanting to vomit at the feeling of her knee being completely popped out and angled wrong. Only seconds later did it actually start to hurt, the pain shooting up her left side and down to her foot. She cried out, all of her pain coming to a crescendo as every part of her body wanted her to know what she was currently dealing with.

She glanced around her, most of her vision impeded by the dust that was flying up from various explosions. It left her to look herself, dreading seeing the cause of her pain. But look she did, looking down at herself. The blood wasn't as bad as she thought it would be considering the large amount there was on her, blood and guts being one of the reasons that she hadn't gone into medicine. It was the carnage that had occurred to her body and the horrifying angle of her leg.

That wasn't something Abigail's waking brain could deal with.

Tony was a ways off, breathing in as his chest began to sting. Even through his body armor he'd managed to get hit because of the close proximity to the explosion. He pulled open his shirt to stare down at the blooming blood on his chest.

Damn.


	6. Stitch Me Back Together

**The One That Got Away**

* * *

**Chapter 6 – Stitch Me Back Together **

* * *

Abigail woke up on a stretcher in an airplane, the metal ceiling unfamiliar to her though the medical lingo brought her back to her times in hospitals. She felt a tug on her arm and knew that if she looked there would be an IV in her arm, probably a great deal of painkillers mixed in by the way her head was spinning. Regardless, it felt like pins and needles were in her leg, both figuratively and literally.

If she lifted her head she could see her knee, perched up on someone's knapsack. It looked normal now that it had been moved back into a relatively straight position. It was heavily wrapped and she was pretty sure that pins, needles and the bloody bandage was the only thing holding her knee together. She didn't want to think about it, the little bit of food in her system wanting to force its way up her throat at the thought.

She turned her eyes away and laid back against the pillow and closed her eyes trying to ignore the addition pain in her body as the familiar tingle went up her spine. Her body tensed just before everything faded out to black.

"_Miss Pier…? Miss Pierce? You nee… Can you hear… Pierce?_"

She did but that didn't mean she wanted to answer. She was tired and all she wanted to do was let herself sleep.

"Miss Pierce? Can you hear me?"

Knowing that he wouldn't leave her alone until she answered, she turned over. "Mm,"

"We're taking you back to the US now," he explained to her in a soft voice. "You need surgery. Your knee's been banged up in a bad way. We think your knee cap was almost dismantled but we're holding it together until we get you back home,"

Abigail nodded and drifted back out.

When she woke up again it was with the same tired sluggish feeling she'd grown used to after having some of her worst seizures. It wasn't a surprise that she'd been having seizures after what had happened to her and the troupe she'd been in. Stress did that to her.

But as she opened her eyes she could that she was in a new hospital she'd never been in before. By the looks of the plaques on the wall and some of the uniform clad people around her, she'd guess that this was an army hospital. Within minutes a nurse was fluttering over her trying to wake her up the same way the nurse had when Abigail had had her appendectomy. Abigail tried to ignore her as best she could before falling back to sleep.

When she woke up again, she got the doctor's analysis.

"Your knee cap was crushed," he told her, not bothering with any flowery sweet language that she was used to. It was kind of nice. "Right now we're holding your knee together with wire so that it can heal correctly. I want you off that leg for the next month and a half. You might need to go in for another surgery in two months to make sure everything is healing properly because of the severity of the injury. The good news is you'll walk again… but the next six months you might need some help,"

"Help?"

"Crutches will be needed when you leave so that you can stay off of the knee. Once you get into physical therapy they will probably want you on a walker or a cane. Even later, sometimes the wire can rub against other things in your knee that will make it very uncomfortable to walk. The earliest we take the wire out is six months, more likely a year. It shouldn't cause any problems but-"

"I understand," she nodded, feeling disappointed but very thankful to have her knee still.

"I'm confident that your knee is going to be just fine besides. Like I said, I want you off that knee for a month and half to two months. After that they'll either clear you physical therapy and a walker or possibly go in to do the follow up surgery just to tidy up. I know it seems very overwhelming right now but it could have been much worse,"

Abigail nodded before something came to mind.

"Doctor? Can you tell me how Tony Stark is doing? He was in the same group I was in,"

The doctor seemed confused for a moment before he sobered. "Miss Pierce… Mr. Stark never arrived with your group. He's missing in action,"

Abigail sat back in shock, her eyes growing warm as the doctor walked away.

Tony? Missing in action?

He… He couldn't be missing. He couldn't be gone. That didn't make sense.

A tingle ran up her arm as she tried to contemplate the idea, her head throbbing as too much began to build up all at once. Her body twitched once… twice… and then she was gone.

The next few days until her uncle could arrive, apparently bring her ex-husband with him, Abigail had to deal with a bit of survivors guilt. Even though on some level she wasn't at fault for anything, she couldn't help but feel guilt making her stomach flip. Why had it been her to have survived, albeit damaged, while soldiers had died in the attack? Why had Tony been kidnapped and possibly killed while she was lying in a comfortable hospital bed in the states? Why had she even been there?

When she closed her eyes to try to sleep, everything came in quick flashes of horrors and meaningless flickers. She could see explosion of the Humvee in front of them through the window shield and the shouting. She could feel Tony's hands on her as he pulled her from the Humvee. She could remember somehow hearing the clicking of his thumbs on his phone over the explosions and gunfire that filled the air. The explosion that made her ears want to explode even while she was flying through the air. She could remember the look of her leg, bent…

And that led to seizures, awake and in sleep. They eventually had to put her on watch for her night terrors and seizures that resulted.

But things started looking up when her uncle and her ex-husband Maxwell arrived at the base. It was a comfort to watch someone familiar walk into the sterilized room.

First was an impossibly tall man with barely any skin on his bones let alone muscle. He still wore the comic book t-shirts, old jeans and converses despite the job he had at the FBI as a technical analyst. She'd known Maxwell Quinn from back when she'd been an angst-y adult who'd disappeared off the planet after dropping out after a year of college at Stanford. He had been an underworld hacker and had helped teach her almost all of the hacking skills she knew today.

Max was also her ex-husband.

"Hey, Abigail," he greeted her in his typical quiet voice, taking her hand in his oversized one, the spindly fingers rubbing over her arm. "How are you doing, baby?"

"I could be better," she answered, looking around him for her uncle. "Where's Uncle Rick?"

"He's just talking to the doctor," he told her, his expression turning into a frown. "Just a warning, he's majorly pissed about this whole thing,"

"I wouldn't expect otherwise,"

Maxwell smiled, leaning down to kiss her on the forehead. "If you need anything, you know my number,"

"I know," she smiled, running her thumb over the back of his hand. "I appreciate it, Max,"

"_Abigail!_"

Max jumped out of the way as her uncle came barreling over towards them, Abigail just smiling at her only family. "Hi, Uncle Rick," she smiled, opening her arms to him. He practically scooped her up out of the bed, clutching her to him tightly. She did everything she could to not show how much this hug hurt her. Not only was he forcing her knee to move but her front had sustained burns that weren't anywhere near healed. "Careful. They just put me back together,"

"Oh my God," he breathed against her hair, kissing her forehead without moving away. "I was so worried. What the hell were you doing in an active warzone with Tony Stark?"

"We ended up running into each other," she tried to explain as he stepped away from her. "Apparently a journalist did some digging into his background and asked him about me. Then she told him about my seizure in the police department. He came to visit me and ended up taking me home with him-" Before her uncle could say what she knew he was going to, she interrupted him. "I didn't sleep with him, Uncle Rick. Do you really think that much of me?"

"Well I don't know what to think," he snapped back at her crossing his arms over his chest. "I've come to expect that you forget your meds. I've tried everything in my power to make it clear to you how important it is to take them but you just ignore me. I've also come to expect that you understand how I feel about Tony Stark but you went home with him anyway and nearly-"

"That happened a long time ago!" she shouted at him despite being in a hospital, despite her wounded body that ached in response. "You know the test was wrong,"

"That doesn't matter," he bit back at her. "I expect more from you but instead you throw yourself into the worst situations and expect me to think nothing of it,"

"I expect you to tell me it was stupid but still be on my side," she told him, exasperated by her uncle even when she knew that he was most right. "I've just come back from watching men and women die right in front of me. My friend is missing in action whether you like him or not. I expect you to comfort me until it is the appropriate time to smack me upside the head,"

Abigail glared at him, all of the hurt from being reprimanded by her uncle settling on her chest where she didn't need any more hurt.

She was allowed to go home the next day, leaving he military base on crutches. On the way home her uncle insisted on taking her back to Montana with him. She refused, partly because she wasn't cleared to travel and all the work it would take to switch her doctors back and forth. However, the main reason was because they still weren't on good terms with each other. She didn't want to talk and he wasn't about to let her off. But that didn't mean that he left. He rented a room at a nearby motel and insisted on coming to visit her every day.

In his place, Maxwell offered to stay with her. This was much more of an appealing idea since she'd lived with him comfortably for over a year and he'd seen her naked more than a couple times. It was easy to live with him and he always knew what she needed before she knew it herself. She slept in her bed and he took her couch out in the living room of apartment, his suitcase situated in the corner.

However, the time did come that Maxwell had to return home. Unlike her uncle, Maxwell wasn't retired and had to return to his job or else he wasn't going to have to go without pay. He might have grown used to it back before he'd met her but he'd settled into a comfortable white collar existence after they'd split up. She didn't blame him for leaving, especially because they weren't even a couple anymore, but she still wasn't made up with her uncle.

So she lived on her own for a while.

It mostly wasn't a bad experience. It made her learn was really important to her and what wasn't. Peeing was important. Eating was important. Fancy and healthy meals weren't as important. Watching TV was important but what she was watching was less important if she couldn't reach the remote. Picking something up she'd dropped wasn't important.

Showering wasn't important for a week before she caught a whiff of herself and just about ripped her own skin off in disgust.

At first the showering experience hadn't been a bad one. She wrapped her leg in saran wrap to keep the water off of it even though it was relatively safe to have water on it. Maxwell had already put a stool in there so that she could sit while shower which was helpful considering she only had one foot to stand on in a slipped stall. The puffy thing she used and her soap was in a reachable spot for her. She washed herself easily. Even shaving wasn't as bad as she though it would be.

But then she needed to wash her hair.

Up above her, looking to be laughing at her, were both the shampoo and the conditioner bottles, just out of her reach. Back when Maxwell had been there, this hadn't been a problem since he was a tall man who could easily reach them for her. But now he was gone which left it to her.

She reached as far as she could whilst remaining seated on her little stool. Her arm strained almost painfully to try to reach the basket that hung around the neck of the shower head. Even when she was standing normally she usually had to reach a bit to get it. Now, while sitting in her slippery shower with a bum knee, she knew she should have thought this through better because try as she might she couldn't reach the damn shampoo or conditioner.

With no other options except admitting defeat- which she would not do- she tried reaching for the bottles another way. Carefully, she place her hand against the slick shower wall and used that to get her unharmed leg under her to stand. She kept her weight on her one unharmed leg, the wall and the stool as she reached desperately for those bottles.

At first the bottles only teased her fingertips, slipping and turning around and around as she tried to get a damn grip. She eventually resulted in balancing completely and dangerously between the wall and her lone foot, stood up. Without the stool things began to get really scary as she reached for the shampoo and conditi-

Suddenly the floor disappeared from beneath her. She yelped in surprise as shower walls whooshed past her as she tumbled to the tiled ground. The shock left her numb for a long moment. She'd been standing, reaching for the two bottles when suddenly her foot hand slipped backwards, leaving her toes burning from being bent the wrong way. Then she'd fallen forward into the knobs of the shower the metal leaving her skin aching and stinging with new bruises. Next she'd fallen onto her knees, leaving her wounded knee screaming at her above the rest of her injuries.

The sudden depressed feeling swallowed her whole and she suddenly found herself crying on the floor of her bathroom. She needed help but there was no one here to help her. She'd been in Afghanistan, in the middle of a warzone and nearly died, lost a good friend. She felt beyond guilty for how badly she was taking the whole thing. There were soldiers that came back from years in the middle of a warzone with problems. But her? She'd been in the middle of a fire fight for barely five minutes and couldn't deal with the survivor's guilt. And when she'd come back she'd thought, of all people, her uncle would be there to comfort her… but he hadn't. He'd just wanted to drum the guilt into her and tell her how stupid she'd been. There was no need. She'd known and she knew and she regretted everything. Now she needed help and she was all alone. Her uncle wasn't there, Maxwell wasn't there, Tony wasn't there, her friends weren't there. She was alone with a bum leg and a load of guilt.

An age old friend appeared then, that familiar tingle that ran up her arm and spine. She didn't fight it off, just felt her body flop against the tiles until she feel into the black.

When she woke up, the water was freezing and her skin was beyond wrinkled.

She wiped at her face desperately, hyperventilating when she realized that she'd been here for who knew how long. She needed to get out but she didn't know how she was going to accomplish it.

Until she heard what had woken her up.

At first she thought she'd imagined the sound. Maybe it was her imagination being hopeful, maybe it was the neighbors, maybe it was something falling over. But then it happened again. A knock on her front door and she knew without a doubt who it was.

"Uncle Rick!" she shouted desperately. She tried to shout as loud as she could, hoping her voice made it through the bathroom door, down the hall into the living room and through the front door to him. "Uncle Rick! I need help! Uncle Rick! Hello?! Uncle Rick!"

"_Abigail?_" she could faintly hear just before the front door opened. "_Abigail?!_"

"I'm in the bathroom!" she cried, tears being washed away with the shower spray that was still running over her. "I need some help,"

The door opened and there was her uncle.

As usual, his salt and pepper was cut close to his head, his blue eyes sparkling from his face as he looked around the room. Then his eyes landed on her and the lines on his handsome face appeared across his forehead as his eyebrows drew together. He opened the door the rest of the way and stood in the doorway staring at her for a moment as if he couldn't understand what he was seeing.

His niece sitting on the floor of her shower, naked as the day she was born, with a bright red and swelling knee, tears streaming down her face along with the water spray.

He frowned. "Oh honey… what happened?"

Just like before, the damn burst yet again and she was balling. She just couldn't handle it anymore. "I was in a w-warzone," she cried almost inaudibly, wiping at her face despite the water that was still going. "I h-have a shattered kneecap and I-I-I can't stand up to get shampoo,"

Her uncle closed the bathroom door behind him, turning on the fan as he pulled her towel off the back of the door. He slowly opened the glass door and turned off the water, kneeling down next to her. She could tell that he pitied her but she didn't have enough dignity to care anymore. She just wanted her uncle to take care of her like he always did.

"I'm sorry," she cried, looking down at her poor saran wrap covered leg that was two seconds from swelling to no return. "I'm sorry,"

"It's okay, honey," Uncle Rick cooed to her, his deep voice rumbling in her chest. He gently wrapped the towel around her, cover her up and keeping her from the cool air that had invaded the bathroom. "You didn't do anything wrong,"

She looked up at him with red eyes. "They were all right there… Tony was sitting in front of me taking a picture with this kid… Then everything was exploding and suddenly he was gone," Abigail started to shake, tears returning to her eyes. "He was right there… Tony was sitting right next to me texting on his phone and then it landed next to us… everything was gone,"

Uncle Rick suddenly wrapped his arms around her, pulling her against him despite how wet she was. It didn't make her feel any better but just for a moment, things weren't so bad and she wasn't so alone anymore.


	7. A New Project

**The One That Got Away**

* * *

**Chapter 7 – A New Project**

* * *

"God damn it! _O-pen!_"

Finally, two and a half months later, Abigail unlocked the door to her apartment after the third try. With more annoyance than the actual need to do it, she threw her shoulder into the door. The door swung open and banged against the wall, making her glare at it as she hobbled inside, closing the door behind her with a bit more care.

It had only been a few days since her beloved Uncle Rick returned home to Montana. It left her dinky little apartment feeling much more spacious but also empty. It also meant that she had to drive herself to her physical therapy appointments and unlock her own door.

They hadn't started off on the right foot when she'd returned but after her incident in the bathroom things got easier. He ended up moving in with her, taking care of her like he used to when she was young. It was still a little awkward at first but they eventually warmed up to each other again. Now he was gone, went back to Montana at her request and she was beginning to regret it.

She groaned as she shucked off her jacket and tossed it on the back of her couch, moving to her kitchen without much thought other than needing ice for her knee.

She'd just had a grueling appointment with her physical therapist who'd been exercising her knee in a way that hadn't hurt during the appointment. It had felt amazing actually but the pain had almost been instantaneous when she got into her car. After two weeks of physical therapy she should have expected as much but she'd been blindsided. Earlier it had been relaxing rubs, a little bit of work and then going home on her crutches.

Now she was coming home with an achy knee, leaning heavily on her newly acquired cane. The cane however, wasn't the therapist's fault. According to him, she wasn't supposed to be on the cane this early. She was supposed to be still using her crutches but after a month and a half her armpits were practically raw from the constant use of them. And then there were his awful hints at him giving her a walker in a few weeks. She'd rather be on a cane like Dr. Watson than be in a walker like an elderly person… even if every step she took sent shots of pain going up her thigh with every short step.

The cane suddenly slipped on the hardwood floors under the strain, making her scramble for a second to get it back on firm ground. She didn't fall but it certainly left her heart beating fast and a shot of adrenaline to do a quick circuit of her system.

The whole cane idea was new for her. She was thirty-six after all. Thirty-six year olds don't typically have a bum knee and carry around a cane. The only person she knew that had a can that wasn't older that sixty was Dr. Watson of Sherlock Holmes and he was a fictional character.

It was all Tony Stark's fault… Abigail took a deep breath and leaned against the wall closest to her, willing her eyes not to water as the thought of that egotistical, arrogant, womanizing, billionaire, genius… man.

It'd been three months since she'd seen him for the first time in fifteen years and she was positive that it had done her more bad than good. Yes, he'd been her first love and she had been his. They'd also been each other's firsts and he had been the fun and less techy part of her life. He'd been everything she wasn't. And she still loved him even with everything he'd become over the many years they'd been apart and with everything they'd both been through.

Even after everything she'd done to him, she was selfish enough to still have feelings for him.

"What's up, grandma?"

Abigail had never made such a girly sound as she did right then. Her voice turned into a high-pitched shriek as she spun around to face the intruder lounging in her favorite recliner.

Unfortunately for Abigail, her knee wasn't up from such a surprise. It sent her falling to the ground, her butt bone aching and hurting just as much as her knee was. But she barely noticed, not when her mind was in utter shock at seeing someone lounging in her living room, especially when it was who it was.

She watched as the man she thought she'd never see again jumped out of his seat and approached her. She stared up into the grey eyes of the man that had been missing for the past three months as he looked at her with concern as he picking up her cane for her. She gawked at the man she was going to kill for breaking into her house as he crouched down next to her.

"Sorry. You okay?"

Her eyes moved over him, unsure whether he was real or not. He _looked_ real. His hair was flopped down over his forehead in the way she liked. His thousand dollar suit was a perfect fit for his body and his leather shoes shining. The only think out of place was that his smirk wasn't currently on his face but she supposed she could excuse that. He had after all scared her into falling on her butt in the middle of her apartment.

But he was different too. His eyes looked tired even though he was doing a good job trying to hide it. The dark bags beneath his eyes didn't do much in helping his charade or the overall sluggish way he was crouched next to her. He also had quite a few scratches and scrapes on his face and in no doubt other places on his body. Then there was the obvious addition of a sling to his right arm.

"Tony?"

He smiled half-heartedly at her, running a hand through his hair.

"It's good to see you," she told him without thinking, her eyes drinking him in.

A chuckle escaped his mouth as he nodded his head at her. "It's good to be seen,"

"You look horrible," she told him with a pained smile. "And you ditched me,"

"Sorry,"

Without much more thought Abigail reached up and hugged Tony to her. It forced him to fall on the floor beside her, his good arm wrapping around her shoulders mostly to keep himself from falling over further. She could feel the tears warming her eyes and her throat tensing as she felt the emotions overwhelming her. Every part of her was happy that Anthony Edward Stark was still in the world no matter how damaged.

"Abby, I'm so sorry I got you into this," Tony was telling her, pulling back to look her over the same way she'd looked at him. He was probably seeing some of the same things she saw in him; the haunted eyes, the fading scars and scrapes, the messed up limbs.

"Nah. I should have just called a cab when I had the chance," she smiled, waving him off as she leaned back on her hands, her eyes falling on her shattered knee before it faded out into blurry vision as she thought. "I'm actually surprised I'm still alive,"

"Any seizures?"

"A couple. They had me on watch when I was in the hospital. I was having them in my sleep as often as I was having them when I was awake," Abigail bit the inside of her lip, her mouth scrunching together as she tried not to think of the incident she'd had in her bathroom before her uncle had found her on the floor of her shower. Quickly, she turned her eyes to Tony. "What about you? Tried sleeping yet? You most definitely got it worse than me,"

Tony shook his head, running a hand though his hair. "Just got back. Too busy with debriefing to top secret bureaus for any actual sleep yet. But I wanted to talk to you about something,"

"No, I will not sleep with you,"

Tony snorted. "Why does everyone assume that is the first thing on my mind?"

She just laughed.

"Look, I'm starting a new project. Top secret. Something big. I want you to be a part of it,"

"Me? What could I possibly contribute?"

"Well, I could always use a woman's touch," he shrugged nonchalantly. At her serious expression he sighed and followed suit. "I need your computer skills to update Jarvis and upload some things. I also need your hacking skills for less honorable reasons. I need someone I can trust, Abs,"

"And you don't trust your hirelings at Stark Industries?"

"This is not for my company. Not for the military. This needs to stay secret-" Before Tony could say anything more there was a knock on the door.

The two looked up to watch as Pepper Potts walked in, her ginger hair up in a messy bun and a smile on her face despite the position Tony and Abigail where in on the floor. "Ready, Tony?"

"Just a minute," Tony nodded, indicating for Pepper to wait outside. Once she was gone he turned back to Abigail, a hopeful and oddly serious look on his face. "Look, Abigail. I want you to help me with this. I'll even pay you. I'll even buy the company you work for and make you the CEO of it so that you can take off the time to help me with this,"

She raised an eyebrow at him. "You're serious,"

"You can live with me if it cuts down on gas,"

She couldn't help but smile at the man. "I might need to unless you let me borrow your chauffer. I didn't hurt my driving leg but it is still frowned upon when I drive,"

Tony suddenly smiled. "So you'll do it,"

She quickly held up a finger to him. "Yes but I want some things… I want to quit my job. You'll need to hire me at Stark Industries at some point but until then you can just pay me for helping with your project,"

Tony smirked at her, clearly impressed with her. "You drive a hard bargain… But then I'll need my own conditions,"

"Yes?"

He nodded down at her wooden cane. "I'm making you a new one,"

"No weapons,"

"Aww,"

"What else?" she pushed.

"You'll come stay with me at my house. If I'm hiring you onto this job I want you to be working at all hours,"

"I have physical therapy I have to go to,"

"Noted,"

"And I want my own room,"

"Of course. You'll need to pack,"

"And no going through my stuff,"

"Deal breaker. I need to make sure you aren't bringing any secret devices. How about I check your underwear drawer first?"

"You're disgusting,"

"You love it,"

She couldn't help but grin at him. "I'll be ready in thirty minutes,"

"Make it twenty,"

"Fine. Forty-five minutes then,"

Tony sighed, slowly getting up off the floor with a groan. "Thirty minutes,"

"Send me your chauffer," Abigail sighed, not moving from her place on the floor. "I'll need help up before I can pack,"

Tony smiled a true smile before helping her up himself, the two of them groaning in unison.

Once Abigail had packed and had all of the tech she'd need, she watched Tony's chauffer and body guard, Happy, pile her stuff into Tony's limo. She didn't offer to help carry her things like she normally would have. She knew she was in no condition to carry her things, even if Happy was caring her valuable computer cases. However, that didn't keep her from not taking her eyes off the suit case with her computer in it, wincing when Happy slammed the truck closed.

"Hello again, Miss Pierce,"

Abigail turned and smiled up at Pepper Potts, happy to see the sweet red head that acted as Tony's babysitter.

"It's Abigail. Can I call you Pepper?"

Pepper smiled. "Of course. It's good to see you. I'm sorry we didn't speak much after the incident,"

"It's alright. I was busy with Vicodin and learning to walk again,"

Pepper gave her an uncomfortable smile before turning away.

"So what have you been doing since you've gotten back?" she asked as she was helped into Tony's limo, sliding stiffly into the center. "Surly I wasn't your first stop after being released from army custody,"

Tony smiled and gestured towards the balled up Burger King bag on the floor.

"And you didn't get a milkshake?"

Tony picked up the Burger King cup from the cup holder.

"Good boy,"

"I also had a press conference," Tony told her nonchalantly, his eyes out the window as they started moving.

"And?"

"You'll probably want to see this," Pepper told her, handing her an I-phone. By the time she'd watched the whole thing- interrupting the thing to ask them a various questions or to stop herself from getting car sick- they were walking through Tony's front door.

"… _Yeah, Ben_,"

"_What happened over there_?"

"_I had my eyes opened. I came to realize that I have more to offer this world than just making things that blow up. And that is why, effective immediately, I am shutting down the weapons manufacturing division of Stark International_-" The reporters were suddenly standing and shouting their questions, barely allowing Tony to finish as Obadiah Stane tried to quiet Tony and get their reporter's attention on him. "-_until such a time as I can decide what the future of the company will be- what direction it should take, one that I'm comfortable with and is consistent with the highest good for this country, as well_-"

"_What we should take away from this is that Tony's back! And he's healthier than ever. We're going to have a little internal discussion and we'll get back to you with the follow-up_,"

Abigail chuckled as she handed Pepper her I-phone back, turning to Tony with and eye roll. "It was a sweet sentiment, Tony, but you are so screwed,"

"That's what people keep telling me. Apparently being responsible isn't a good direction for a weapons company,"

"But now you're not a _weapons _company," she pointed out, poking his shin with her cane before it connected with the floor again. "Your company's workers and stock holders are going to be running around like chickens with their heads cut off if you don't announce a goal for your knew direction… like bricks for baby hospitals," Pepper snorted. "If you aren't careful you're Board of Directors are going to file an injunction and lock you out of your own company,"

"That won't happen,"

She laughed sarcastically, imagining the headlines now; "A sheltered billionaire comes back from a God forsaken territory after enduring who knows what, returning with a whole new outlook on life… hmm, that either sounds like PTSD or an Oliver Queen waiting to happen,"

Tony rolled his eyes at her.

"_Welcome home, sir_," Jarvis greeted.

"Thank you kindly, Jarvis,"

"_It's been a long time. Based on news reports, I calculated your safe return at 0.25%_,"

"Yep, I missed you too,"

"Welcome back, Miss Pierce,"

"Thank you, Jarvis. It's been a while,"

"_Indeed it has_,"

Happy carried Abigail's bags up to her room, her eyes glued to them before Happy disappeared up the stairs. Luckily for her and her knee, Tony had an elevator for the three floors of his home, allowing her to see her room without making her knee ache more than it had to. It was the same room as the one she'd woken up in three months ago but this time around there was a light layer of dust on everything.

"Nice,"

"I was out of town for a couple of months. In case you hadn't heard,"

She turned back to Tony, standing in the doorway of her room. She smirked at him, leaning on her cane and crossing her ankles. "And when am I to begin my work, Mr. Stark?"

"Tomorrow. Bright and early," he told her, crossing his arm and leaning against the doorframe to mirror her. "I'm gonna have you update Jarvis's systems and strengthen the security before we start on the Mark Two. I have something I need to do first,"

"Alright. See you in the morning then?"

He nodded, closing the door behind him.

Abigail unpacked easily, leaving her tech inside her bags so she could take it to wherever Tony directed her to work tomorrow.

She was about to go to bed when she realized that the house wasn't as quiet as it should have been, even with that annoying fountain in the entryway/stairway. She followed the noise as quietly as she could with a bum knee and a cane, ending up at the top of the stairs. It was dark throughout the house but from where she was she had a view of the living room and a bit of the kitchen.

Standing in front of the window, overlooking the gorgeous view of the ocean, was Tony's silhouette. He didn't seem to know she was there but just continued staring out at the dark horizon before taping the window. A flood of low light appeared across the class surface, Jarvis's voice sounding throughout the room.

"_You have 1,713 new voice messages. How shall I categorize for you_?"

Tony tapped at the class, thumbed through a few, looking bored. Finally he stopped, shoving his hands into his pockets as he stared at the messaged dejectedly.

"Delete all,"

"_Of course, sir_," The glass cleared, leaving only the view.

"Have you started machining the parts?"

"_Yes, sir. They should be ready for you in the morning_,"

"Good. When?"

"_At approximately 4:30, sir. Will you be going to bed soon_?"

"Why? You have a hot date?"

"_I am an AI, sir. I do not date_,"

Tony snorted before his eyes focused back on the horizon outside his window. "I just don't feel like sleeping quite yet,"

Abigail leaned against the wall of the hallway, staring at Tony's back for a moment. It seemed that she had more than one new project to work on while staying with Tony.


	8. Playing Operation

**The One That Got Away**

* * *

**Chapter 8 – Playing Operation**

* * *

Much to Abigail's surprise, she got a decent night's sleep. She woke up comfortably, lying diagonally across the center of the oversized bed like some sort of bed hog. The window dimmed the light the sun would have shone in, revealing it to be much later than the usual six that she woke up at on work days or ten on weekends.

Tony was home.

It shouldn't have struck her so suddenly but it did. She suddenly sat up with enough force to make her vision blurry. She quickly flung herself out of the bed, using to force to grab her reading glasses, her cane and send her out the door. She slid into the railing at the top of the stairs, stopping to looking over the living room. There was no one there but she could hear the clinking of someone moving around in the kitchen.

She turned around and entered the elevator, waiting impatiently for it to deposit her on the next floor. When the door finally opened, she came flying out of them. She ran as fast as her now aching knee would carrying her until she was standing in the pristine kitchen.

Leaning back against the counter was Tony with a cup of coffee in his hand. He was wearing a grey t-shirt and pajama pants, bags beneath his eyes. However, what was a shock was seeing the glowing circle positioned just over his heart.

"Ready?" he asked her before looking her over. She suddenly realized that, in her haste, she'd left her room in men's pajama pants and an extremely soft Joker t-shirt. "It's a pity that what I've been imagining you wearing to bed for the past three months hasn't measured up to the real thing. I was thinking some see-through lace, maybe even naked, not-"

Abigail reached out and hugged him, allowing him to worry about the damn coffee mug he was holding himself. All she needed was to hug him right now. He'd been gone for three months, dead as far as a lot of people were concerned, kidnapped by whoever as far as everyone else was. She'd been sure that she'd never see him again, just the same as before and it would have been all her fault that didn't have him in her life.

Tony seemed shocked at first, his arms stiff as he moved them out of the way for her to hug him, the coffee cup hanging in the air carefully. However, after a long moment, she felt him relax against her, his arms dropping to her waist as the coffee cup heated the small of her back. His face pressed into the top of her head, the heat of his breath sizzling against her hair and tickling the skin of her scalp.

He'd missed her too.

"Good to be seen, Abs," he told her, squeezing her for good measure before he tried to let her go. She however wouldn't let him go; her face pressed against his chest just above and to the left of the arc reactor nestled in his chest. "You going to let go of me anytime soon?"

"You were gone," she told him, though he didn't need any reminding. "Now your back and you expect me to think that this is anything short of a damn miracle? I'm going to give you a hug for as long as I want,"

Tony stood there drinking his coffee over the top of Abigail's head until he was finished with his coffee and she finally let him go, looking especially satisfied.

"Alright. Let's get to work,"

Abigail followed Tony down into his workshop, thankful that he chose to ride the elevator with her not that her knee was throbbing. The doors slid open and everything looked nearly the same as the last time she'd been there. There were still the half a dozen workstations cluttered with various forgotten projects, files and tech. The cars still sat off to the side, the black and red flame model T sitting at the forefront.

However, there seemed to be a medical station set up off to the side now, near the elaborate computer system she'd spotted nearly three months ago. A heart monitor, a cushioned doctor's chair, rolling tables with instruments on them and various other machines sat waiting. It made her uneasy, looking over at where something sat glowing in the center of the Tony's chest. She wasn't going to ask until he wanted to tell her but that didn't keep her from wondering.

"Sorry I didn't get you anything for you first day of work," he suddenly told her, making her jerk her eyes away from his chest up to his eyes. She nearly dropped them guiltily towards the computers but he didn't seem to mind her looking. She could almost see the twitch at the corners of his mouth as he glanced over at the computer setup. "But I figured letting you get a crack at my system would be a gift enough,"

Abigail smiled. "Let me at 'em, Captain,"

Tony set her up at his computers that she'd been itching to get a crack at since she'd first seen them, allowing her another table to add all her own hardware to his set up. He left her to do it herself but she preferred it that way. She liked her set up a certain way and things usually went easier if she was the only one working in her space. She moved quickly and efficiently, ignoring whatever Tony was doing as she set up her own security clearance for the house, starting with codes to get into the house and workshop to then getting herself a password for his computers.

She chose _Stephanie4Brown_.

"You've learned some new tricks,"

Abigail smiled at the screen and continued typing. "I got a full ride scholarship to Stanford- which Uncle Rick was proud of- so that I could become some sort of engineer or technical analyst. I stayed there for a couple of years but I got bored with all of the things I was just relearning. I dropped out, went off the grid, got involved with a bunch of hackers I could actually learn something from,"

"What made you get hired by a low grade tech company?"

"I wanted a boring job," she told him easily, stopping her typing to turn around and face him. He took a step back and leaned against desk, crossing his arms to wait for the whole story. "After being unground with the lot of them, I figured that it was time for the real world. I was finished hating 'the man' and living most of my life behind a computer screen. I missed Montana… I missed Uncle Rick and I was ready to start my life with Maxwe-"

"That's right," Tony cut in with a frown, not daring to look her in the eye. "You mentioned you were unhappily married for a few years,"

She rolled her eyes. "We got married a few years after we met. He was my best friend. He was just like me. He wasn't there to hate the government or cause mayhem. He was a hacker for fun. He wanted to figure out just what kind of messes he could get himself out of,"

"Sounds like a great guy," Tony frowned, pushing off the desk to walk away to hide just how jealous he was. Of course, Abigail knew him better than that.

"We separated because we didn't love each other," she told him nonchalantly, enjoying the stutter in steps as he moved away from her. "We loved each other but we weren't in love with each other. I think we were more in love with the idea of being married and starting a family back in the normal world than doing it _with_ each other. We're still in contract but we're just friends,"

Tony turned back to her, an eyebrow raised. "Single?"

Abigail rolled her eyes, spinning in her chair to turn back to her work.

"Hey! You haven't answered my question,"

She looked over her shoulder at him, watching as he approached her again. "After resurfacing, Max and I got a call from the FBI and they tried to hire us. During my time underground the two of us broken into their unhackable system in under five minutes. They've dumped up security since then though. It'd probably take me a whole ten now,"

"If you can't beat 'em, hire 'em,"

Abigail smiled. "We went to work and Max loved it. There was always something interesting to do, someone to help, a place to go. I think that was when we really started to get that we weren't two peas in a pod. It never sat right with me to hack people's lives or see the kind of things I saw while with the FBI. I guess I'm more of a hacker in that way," She shrugged. "I quit and went to college in Montana before I decided to get a boring job,"

There was a long moment of silence filled by the sound of her fingers tapping against Tony's keyboard. She figured he'd gone back to his own work so she went back to hers, ignoring whatever he was doing elsewhere. She was halfway finished with integrating some of her own hacker traps and failsafe's to Tony's system when she was jolted from her hacker stupor.

"_Abigail, how big are your hands?_"

"What?" Abigail asked, a little annoyed at being interrupted again.

She looked over the top of the center screen she'd been staring out towards the sound of Tony's voice. She had expected him to be hunched over a work bench, looking as determined and focused as he always used to when they were teens. However, when she looked up she found him shirtless- not that she noticed- laid out on a doctor's chair with the various hospital machines attached to him. In his hand was a familiar looking device that mirrored the one that was nestled in his chest. She'd heard about the arc reactor mostly in passing from Pepper and from Jarvis, only now truly understanding.

"How big are your hands?" he repeated somewhat impatiently. "Get over here. I need you,"

Abigail got up with a huff, rolling her eyes as she reached for her cane. Until he told her about his idiotic plan to have her do something stupid and dangerous, she was going to play along with it. But, whatever it was, she was going to be telling him no. She carefully got up and rested her weight against the cane before walked around the desk toward him.

"I'm not doing it,"

"You don't even know what I'm about to ask,"

"I know that it's stupid,"

"No it's not,"

"I doubt it," she told him with a snort, coming to stand next to him, eyeing the glowing device in his chest. "Is that the thing that's keeping you alive?"

"It _was_. It is now an antique," Tony held up the new arc reactor for her to see, the one he'd stayed up most of last night perfecting and waiting for Jarvis to physically create. "This is what will be keeping me alive for the foreseeable future. I'm swapping it up for an upgraded unit and I just ran into a little speed bump,"

Abigail frowned. "Speed bump? What does that mean?"

"It's nothing. It's just a little snag,"

"Snag sounds worse,"

"Show me your hands. Let's see them,"

She rolled her eyes, setting her cane down against his thigh with a snap before displaying her hands to him. Despite being a chubby child, Abigail had been given long slender fingers which proved useful when she was hacking away on a computer. She watched with annoyance as he pretended to observe her hands with precision. She let out an annoyed sigh and flipped her hands as Tony smiled at her, enjoying her reactions.

"Oh, wow. They are small," he nodded, grinning at her despite her eye roll. "Very petite, indeed. I just need your help for a sec,"

She frowned at him, picking up her cane again to lean against. "… Okay?"

"There's an exposed wire under this device. And it's contacting the socket wall and causing a little bit of a short. It's fine," Tony reached down and unscrewed the old arc reactor from his chest, the device leaving his body with a satisfying pop. "Put that on the table over there. That is irrelevant,"

Abigail stared down at it as he placed it in her hand as if it were nothing. She felt as if he'd just handed his beating heart to her and told her not to drop it. She quickly turned and put it down on a nearby table and turned wide eyes back to him.

"What do you want me to do?"

"I just want you to reach in, and you're just gonna gently lift the wire out,"

"Is this safe?" she asked him with wide eyes despite knowing the answer.

It was Tony. Of course it wasn't safe. Even teenage Tony had that in common with the one sitting in front of her with a whole in his chest.

"Yeah, it should be fine. It's like _Operation_," Tony told her nonchalantly as he straightened in his chair. "You just don't let it touch the socket wall or it goes '_beep_,'"

"Tony, we played that game together when we were dating," she told him with a frown. "You know that I always made him go _beep_… and most of the time it wasn't on purpose,"

"… Never mind the game. Just lift out the wire, okay?"

"You know…" Abigail chuckled nervously as she took a hobbled step backwards. "… I don't think that I'm qualified to do this… Actually I _know_ I'm not qualified to do this,"

Before she could get any farther away from him he caught her hand, pulling her back towards him with a reassuring smile. "No, you're fine," Tony told her calmly, rubbing his thumb in circles across the back of her hand. "Abigail. _You_ are the most capable, qualified, trustworthy person I've ever met. You're gonna do great,"

Abigail gave him an unconvinced look.

"Is it really too much of a problem to ask? 'Cause I really need your help here,"

She rolled her eyes at him, looking away from his hopeful expression as she pulled her hand from his. As much as she would love to have his life in the palm of her hands- sarcasm intended- she had a feeling that someone qualified would be a better choice… But there really wasn't anyone else. At this realization she let out a long and irritated breath through her nose, looking back at him and his puppy dog eyes. She groaned and stepped back toward him.

"I hate you,"

Tony couldn't help but give her a triumphant smile.

Abigail rolled her eyes and reached into the socket. "Oh, there's pus!"

"It's not pus,"

"Then what the hell is that?"

"It's an inorganic plasmic discharge from the device, not from my body,"

"It smells!"

"Yeah, it does,"

"Okay. Okay, okay, okay. What am I looking for?"

"The copper wire," Tony reminded her, his eyes watching her face as he tried not to focus on what her hand was doing. "The copper wire, you got it?"

Her face scrunched up before it cleared and she nodded, her nose still scrunched up. "Got it… I hate you but I got it,"

"Now, don't let it touch the sides when you're coming out,"

Abigail curled the wire up into her fingers and carefully pulled, dragging her hand up slowly until her hand was free, her knuckles feeling bruised from the effort. Finally the wire without with no beep and she couldn't help but smile at her victory.

"Okay, now make sure that when you pull it out, you don't pull out the-" There was a slurp-y pop and suddenly a magnet was hanging from the end of Abigail's copper wire. Her heart stopped as she recognized the sounds of someone going into cardiac arrest, the machines going wild around. "-magnet! There's a magnet at the end of it! That was it. You just pulled it out,"

She dropped the wire and magnet on the ground angrily. "What the hell was I supposed to do then, Tony?"

"Okay, I was not expecting-"

"_You said this was safe!_ Do you call the possibility of going into cardiac arrest safe?"

"Well I didn't expect you to yank it out like a _trout!_"

"_Why didn't you tell me before we started this?!_"

"Okay, calm down. We gotta hurry. Take this. You gotta switch it out really quick,"

Abigail quickly took the new arc reactor from him, situating it in her hands in a way that she could easily place it in. "This cannot be healthy for your body,"

"Okay, you're gonna attach that to the base plate. Make sure you-" A jolt issued through Tony as Abigail attached the device with ease, thoroughly shutting him up except for the surprised shout he let out midsentence. Abigail then screwed the device in place and took a step back, trying to stop herself from hyperventilating. "See? Was that so hard? That was fun, right?"

"I hate you _**so**_ much," Abigail murmured, looking to the high heavens. "Don't ever, ever, ever, ever ask me to do anything like that ever again… unless I am _really_ drunk,"

"But I don't have anyone but you,"

Abigail's eyes snapped to him, seeing the serious look on his face as he looked up at her. "Of course you've got other people. You've got Pepper and Rhodey and Obadiah,"

Tony scrunched his nose. "I have them on payroll,"

Abigail smiled. "Me too,"

"Oh, yeah. Maybe I should fire you, get you drunk and have you do this all over again,"

Abigail ignored that and grabbed a nearby clean towel, cleaning off her hands as best she could for the time being. "So are you okay?"

"Yeah, I feel great. You okay?"

"You're lucky I'm taking my epilepsy meds like a good little girl," she told him, meaning it in jest but realizing- by the speed of her heart rate and how hard she'd been breathing- that she probably was right. Realizing this made her drop her eyes down, moving to the second reactor in the room. She picked it up gingerly, feeling the gentle hum emanating from it beneath her fingers.

"What do you want me to do with this?"

"That? Destroy it, incinerate it,"

She turned to look at him in surprise. "You don't want to keep it?"

"Abigail, I've been called many things. Nostalgic is not one of them,"

She raised an eyebrow at the man before picking up her cane to head to the kitchen sink that was situated in the small kitchenette. She carefully placed the reactor on her commandeered desk as she passed for later use and stopped at the sink. Tony had gone back to work by the time that she returned to her best, muttering to one of his first robotic creations about turning him into a wine rack.

"Hey, Butterfingers, come here. What's all this stuff doing on top of my desk? That's my phone, that's a picture of me and my dad. Right there. In the garbage. All that stuff…"

"Did it hurt?"

Tony looked up at Abigail in surprise, finding her faced away from him as she washed her hands. She hadn't expected her to say anything since she'd declared to him more than a few times that she hated him… but just like when they were teens, she couldn't say no to him. She looked over her shoulder at him as she wiped her hands off on a towel, waiting for him to answer her question. He assumed she was talking about his reactor considering they'd only just replaced his old one after sending him into cardiac arrest. He puffed out his chest and nodded, feeling the dull ache around the shaft wall. His body was still healing and he just kept going.

"Not so much anymore," he told her as she walked back to her desk, him following her. He stopped as he leaned next to her, watching her observe the arc reactor in his chest. This close up, he could almost see the blue glow of it in her brown eyes. "Want to touch it… in not a gross way?"

She looked up at him surprised, hesitantly shaking her head. "I think I'm-"

"Come on, you put your hand right in it, remember?" Tony straightened away from the desk and toward her, inviting her in. "It's not gross. Promise,"

Looking between him and the reactor, she picked up her cane and slowly stood from her chair. Just standing brought them to a proximity that might have been uncomfortable for any two other people, his breath fanning on her face. Of course Tony didn't mind, being who he was, and Abigail had known him long enough that it didn't matter. So her eyes were trained low on the thing humming in his chest, her eyes curious as she watched it. It was a lot less intimidating when there wasn't someone dying in front of her. Slowly, she reached out and let her fingertips graze the metal, smiling absentmindedly at the buzz beneath her fingers.

"It's warm… Can you feel it when you get cold or does it all get dispelled through the top? Will it ever overheat?"

"Yes, yes and no,"

"Does the light bother you when you sleep?"

"Haven't really noticed,"

Abigail might have noticed the way his eyes flitted away from her if she'd been paying attention. Instead her eyes remained on the reactor as her fingers ghosted around the edges, nearly touching his skin. She brushed her finger over it before her finger followed one of the ridges to the center. Suddenly she tapped the center of the device sharply, forcing a laugh from Tony that made her jump. He had an uncomfortable look on his face that made her feel guilty as she dropped her eyes and her hand.

"Sorry,"

"It's fine," he told her. "That just felt _really_ weird,"

"You do it all the time," she argued.

"Not _that_ hard,"

She rolled her eyes and returned to her seat, choosing to ignore the reactor man as she returned back to her work.

Tony enjoyed watching Abigail work, it reminded him of when they were younger and he'd come visit her during the summer. He could remember coming into her room to the smell of paint so strong that it nearly knocked him back a step. She would be crouched on a chair in front of her make-shift easel, pant legs and sleeves hiked up as far as they could go. And of course there was always the smear of paint. Sometimes it was on her arm, on her knee, in her hair, on her shirt. Once it was on her lip and when she went to wet her lips she began a spitting fit to get the taste out of her mouth. She could be so focused on her work that a bomb wouldn't shake her from her goal.

Which was good because Tony needed to talk to Rhodey about his new project.

"Ready to begin?"

Abigail looked up as she dropped her reading glasses down onto the desk, squinting at Tony as he walked over to her. She eyed him in annoyance, feeling her brain working numbly as it slowed after finishing her work. If she'd realized that it wasn't light out she would have taken break a long time ago to go sleep like a normal person. Not that this was new to her. Some days she would get working and she'd have to call to work sick because she'd stayed up more than twenty-four hours.

But Tony was heading towards thirty-six.

"No,"

Tony raised an eyebrow at her. "No?"

"No. We both need sleep. Now,"

"You can't tell me what to do. I'm the boss, remember?"

Abigail stood, forcing him to take a step back as she jabbed her cane into the floor where his foot had just been. "Well, I can quit if that makes it easier on you,"

Tony sighed. "Fine. Go sleep. I'll get a start on it,"

"No," she argued with a shake of her head. "We both need sleep. You can't work on all cylinders if you're one of the walking dead,"

Tony stiffened, his eyes becoming unfocused as his mind was dragged away to a place where Abigail couldn't follow. She waited for him at the end of whatever memory she'd triggered, her eyes soft as she watched his brown ones focus on her again. His body was shaking despite how strong Tony liked to pretend he was, his hands turning into fists before releasing again. She reached out to him but he jerked back, whether it was because of her or the freshness of his memory, she couldn't tell.

"I'm sorry," she said before anything else could be.

She knew how potent memories could be when triggered like that. She had many memories she'd rather have completely forgotten, ones from three months ago, ones from seeing her mom die, ones from living underground and off the grid. Abigail couldn't and wouldn't try to pretend she knew what Tony had gone through and was going through right now but she had some idea from her own experience and she was determined to help him.

"It gets easier. Time doesn't necessarily heal but it numbs,"

Abigail stepped around him and headed towards the elevator, the only sound in the room being the sound of her cane hitting the ground rhythmically. Before she reached the metal door she stopped and looked over her shoulder at him.

"When you're ready to talk, sleep, whatever… I'll be here,"

The elevator doors opened and she stepped inside stiffly, leaning against the wall of the elevator as the doors began to close.

"Jarvis, you up?"

"_For you, sir, always_,"


	9. Stay With Me

**The One That Got Away**

* * *

**Chapter 9 – Stay With Me**

* * *

The next morning, Abigail brought coffee.

"I like the upgrades so far," Tony commented without looking up. "The graphics in the holograms could be better though,"

"I'm not finished," she told him defensively as she set down his mug in front of him and distorting the image.

He frowned up at her as he moved the cup out of the way to reveal the metal suit that had been torn apart and rebuilt within the computer system several times over the last few hours.

"Okay, you've got to fill me in," Abigail told him, leaning back against the work bench to look down at him. "Right now all I know is that you've got a reactor in your chest as a decoration, you escaped Afghanistan through the underground subway with Anne Frank and you're working on the genetic makeup of our child so that it'll look like a mixture of a Jack-O-Lantern and the Pillsbury Dough Boy,"

Tony snorted at her, his shoulders sagging with exhaustion before he took a drink from his coffee cup, letting the caffeine catch a fire under his tired mind and body. He wasn't about to sleep and have the nightmares, especially with Abigail in the house- something he hadn't thought of when asking her to move in- and he had too much to do to sleep. He took another sip, leaning his hip against the bench so that he was facing her but he didn't say anything.

"I'm not asking what you're not willing or ready to tell me but if I'm going to be any help…"

Tony nodded. "Got it. Sorry. Not used to having an assistant that doesn't have an animated voice or whirls when it rolls across the room," he murmured, running a hand across his face before his eyes focused on hers. "When I was in Afghanistan I was held captive by the Ten Rings. They wanted me to building them the Jericho missile-"

"The one you demoed," Abigail nodded.

"Right. But instead me and my cellmate made a suit, powered by my arc reactor, to get us out of there. It worked," Tony tried not to remember too much but Yensin's face flashed across his vision and made Tony's heart hurt a little. "So now I'm making a new and improved version,"

Abigail was staring at him, seeming a bit shocked by what he'd told her. He waited patiently for her to thaw, her eyes moving to the image hovering over the table beside them, now visible since he'd moved his coffee cup.

"What are you going to do with it?"

"I don't really know yet, but… I'm hoping that it'll do some sort of good,"

Abigail eyed the hologram before looking back up at him again. "Can you promise me something, Tony?"

"Depends,"

"When we get thrown in jail for whatever you blow up, I had nothing to do with it,"

Tony smirked down at her. "Deal,"

"_And_… if I help you with this… when you make this… can this not be some sort of noble suicide mission?" she asked him, her eyes full of emotion as she looked up at him. "If you died people would notice… Pepper and I would be wailing in the aisles… Rhodey would help carry your casket… Obadiah would take control of your company and laugh manically-"

"Is this going somewhere?"

"You're all I've got, Tony," Abigail finished in an angry/annoyed/embarrassed rush, her eyes focused on the image in front of her.

Tony sighed and- though it was out of character for him- he reached out to her, placing a hand on the nape of her neck to pull her toward him. She frowned at him but let him tuck her head beneath his chin, stiff against his chest as his reactor stuck into her skin. But after a long moment she welcomed the surprisingly tender moment, wrapping her arms loosely around his waist and leaning into him.

"I know, Abs. You've got a deal. No heroics,"

Abigail didn't say anything, just stood there for a long moment in his arms before squeezing him lightly and stepping away, trying to hide the emotions in her eyes.

"So… You're going to integrate Jarvis into the suit? You'll probably need some new system setups for it. You'll probably want to be able to pull from outside sources like airports, news channels for weather and such, Rhapsody for your AC/DC,"

He nodded. "Right,"

"Well that means a new load of work on top of what I already need to finish," she nodded, turning away from him. "I'll get to work on it,"

By the end of the week they had the blue prints down and Abigail had the bones for the systems ready for the suit. She liked listening to the banter between Tony and his creations and watching him work in his element. It reminded her of when they were young and she would sit on the counters of his workshop as she watched him work, sometimes leaning over him to see how long it took before he noticed or got annoyed enough to comment.

Intermittently she worked on Tony's computer systems like he'd hired her to do but she found she better used as a chef. Though she wouldn't say she was the best cook, she'd been making dinners for her and her uncle since she was eight. Omelets, hot dogs, steak, spaghetti, tacos, whatever. Tony on the other hand, didn't seem to know how to make anything beyond a strong pot of coffee. So she'd set time aside so that she could make him meals before he starved himself.

Like the hotdogs she'd made them that Tony hadn't touched. Instead he was currently staring at the toe of the boot he was working on, looking as if he had no idea what he was doing. It had been a while since he'd last slept which hadn't been long in itself. She was really beginning to worry about him… not that she hadn't earlier. Abigail knew full well that anytime she woke up in the middle of the night- or day- and she came down to the workshop she'd find Tony still here working. Tony was exhausted and wasn't acting like himself anymore, muttering to himself more often and getting angry for no reason. Now Abigail had just been waiting for Tony to pass out or realize that he was just hurting his project more than helping it when he continued like this.

"Tony, when's the last time you actually slept?"

It was deafly silent in the workshop so Tony should have heard her except that he suddenly picked up one of his tools and started working on the boot again.

"_Tony!_"

He jumped, his eyes uncharacteristically wide as he turned to look at her in annoyance. "Any reason you had to shout?"

"I asked you, when's the last time you actually slept?"

Tony shrugged and turned back to the boot. "I caught a nap after that finishing the left boot,"

"That was two days ago, Tony, and you had a nap after you finished the blue prints which was two days before that and you haven't slept since you got back, which was about two weeks ago," she told him, trying and failing to keep the irritation from her voice. Abigail let out a breath as she watched Tony continue to fiddle with his boot. "How about you take a break for a minute? I'll have Jarvis do a once over on the boots,"

Tony waved her off. "I had coffee. Don't worry. I'm fine. I had coffee and that Nature Grain thing and some coffee,"

Abigail sighed and decided to go for her last ditch plan. She was going to put Tony Stark to sleep if it was the last thing she ever did.

She hopped off the workbench and quietly- as quietly as her cane allowed- walked toward him, hooking the top of her cane on the arm of his chair before resting her hands on his shoulders. Tony stiffened but slowly began to relax as she began to message his back, trying to be gentle since she knew that he still had a smattering of old bruises. Abigail could feel more than hear the groan that reverberated through Tony's chest as the tool drops from his hand and his body relaxed back into the chair and against her. Abigail smiled and started humming, it was no song in particular but it did the trick as she felt Tony slump further into is chair.

As carefully as she could, Abigail pushed Tony- chair and all- into the elevator and down the hall to his room, managing to get his shoes off, all of him into bed, and under the covers without much fuss or without waking him up. It shouldn't have surprised her with how little sleep he'd gotten. So she tucked him in and closed the door behind her, telling Jarvis in a hushed tone to not make a sound for the next forty-eight hours unless she said so on pain of termination.

He didn't say anything. Smart AI.

Abigail made herself some hot chocolate before heading to bed, her new bed welcoming her and allowing her to sleep comfortably.

And then the screaming had woken her.

It shocked her into a half awareness that had her cowering into her pillow. It was only when she recognized the male voice that was crying out from down the hall that she remembered where she was. Immediately she was out of bed and in the hall, headed to Tony's room. She nearly knocked into the wall as she slipped on Tony's wooden floors with her sock covered feet, her knee screaming at her to go back and get her cane and two Vicodin. Abigail ignored the soul crushing pain and flung open Tony's bedroom door, her eyes trying desperately to adjust so she could see into his room.

Tony was lying in his oversized bed, silk sheets wrapped tightly around his legs as he flipped and turned. Then his body suddenly when as rigid as a board as it arched off the bed, straining against something Abigail couldn't see, fighting an invisible foe. His eyes were squeezed shut against the dark, and his mouth was open, letting out a fear filled holler that her had never heard come from him before. And she was there, her hands on either side of his face, her voice calling out to him, trying to help him come back to reality.

"Tony! Come on, Tony. Wake up! You're having a nightmare," Tony didn't hear her, if anything, her actions were only making him more frantic. "Tony! You're alright. You're here, Tony. _You're safe!_"

Tony's brown eyes suddenly flashed open and in an instant he was sitting up, throwing his arm out to knock her off of him, sending her to the floor roughly. As Abigail landed on the floor with a shout- half from sheer surprise and half from the pain in her knee and butt- she could see Tony desperately scooting as far back into the headboard as he could. Abigail let him, watching as his breathing began to slow as his wide eyes told him that it was her and not a stranger.

"Tony. It's me. Abby? You're home and safe,"

Slowly- ever so slowly- Abigail did her best to stand and once she'd managed it she hesitantly reached out to him. When she got nothing more than his heavy breathing, she touched him, first a hand on his face and then the other over the arc reactor nestled in his chest. When he didn't flinch away or swipe at her she sat down on the bed with a soft groan of relief.

"Tony?"

"I'm here," Tony finally murmured, his eyes staring into hers, his body still shaking. "I'm here,"

Abigail nodded. "Yes. You're here. You're home and you're safe,"

Tony's whole body relaxed as his eyes shut, his head sagging forward until his forehead touched her shoulder. Abigail pulled Tony the rest of the way toward her with little trouble, wrapping her arms around his shoulders, her thumbs moving like windshield wipers against his shirt. Eventually Tony reacted to her and wrapped his arms loosely around her waist before tightening his hold drastically, gripping at her shirt.

"Stay with me," Tony suddenly said into her shoulder, the words jumbling together against her skin. "Please,"

Abigail nodded without a thought, letting him pull her down next to him. Abigail tucked herself against him, dodging the reactor in his chest but wrapping her arms around his waist. Just like when she had been a seventeen-year-old in love with a seventeen-year-old Tony Stark, she gently rubbed the pads of her thumbs against the knobs of his spine just above his sweatpants, tucking her head beneath his chin, taking deep breaths through her nose.

They fell asleep that way, silent and holding each other, unwilling to let the other go.


	10. A Good Night

**The One That Got Away**

* * *

**Chapter 10 – A Good Night**

* * *

Tony woke up slowly, groggily rolling over, trying not to roll off his uncomfortable little cot and onto the dirt floor of the cave. But something was wrong… he couldn't hear Yensin puttering around the cave or the distant sound of various accents jabbering at each other. All Tony could hear was the ocean and the sound of music mingled with Abigail's voice.

Tony shot up and looked around to find himself in his big five thousand dollar oversized bed with silk sheets, the coast of Malibu dimmed by the windows of his home. Tony's hand slapped down on the side of the bed he dimly remembered Abigail sleeping on the night previous. She wasn't there of course; he could hear her voice singing along with the song playing softly down stairs, her occasional laughter floating up to him.

He was here. He was home.

Tony took a quick shower- putting the protective cover over his reactor- before getting dressed and heading downstairs. He found Abigail at the stove cooking something that smelled like omelets and bacon. Her hair was pulled into a messy bun on the top of her head, the bun sliding as she bounced as she sang, mumbling the words.

"_I'm street wise… I can improvise!_" she sang slightly off-key. "_Oh, oh, oh, oh, oooooh,_"

Her cane was hanging precariously off the counter next to the oven, leaving Abigail to stand with almost all her weight on her good leg, obviously uncomfortable by the way she kept trying to shift her weight without thinking only to shift back.

That reminded Tony about his promise to build her a new cane. One with tech in it.

"How was actually getting some sleep?"

Tony glanced back at Abigail to find her looking over her shoulder at him, a smirk on her face before she looked back down at her pan. With a decisive move, she had an omelet on plate, scooped up three sausages and turned to set it on the island.

"You've barely eaten normal food since your American hamburger. Eat,"

He didn't argue. Tony sat down at the nearest stool and pulled the plate toward him and started eating, his stomach grumbling in response of actual food. One of the first things that Abigail had made for him- that wasn't a bowl of ice-cream- had been an omelet like this after she finished her cooking class. Back then it had far less green peppers.

"Less cheese than last time,"

"Thought I'd try being healthy,"

Abigail scooped up her own omelet and made her way over to sit next to him, leaning heavily on her cane, nearly leaning over it each time she moved to her right leg. Tony watched her settle into her chair, looking relieved to be off her feet.

"Isn't there a surgery?"

Abigail stopped mid stab to look at him confused.

"To give you a thirty-six year old knee?"

Abigail nodded in understanding. "The doctors are trying. My kneecap got busted so now I have a wire in there keeping it together until it heals right. It hurts though. The wire feels the need to rub against everything when I'm walking around. I'm actually supposed to be using a walker,"

"Why aren't you?"

"Walkers are overrated,"

Tony snorted and turned back to his food. "I could make you a brace. Take some of the weight off your knee,"

Abigail looked over at him, her eyebrow moving towards his hairline. "That's generous,"

"But after I'm done with the suit,"

She smiled. "There's the Tony I know,"

They settled into a comfortable silence as they ate, music still floating in the background. It was like this until Pepper arrived, Tony getting up to go into the workshop to work, Abigail rinsing off the dishes and setting them into the dishwasher. Once she was finished she walked over to Pepper, handing her a cup of coffee.

"So how is _our_ little project going?"

Pepper looked down at Abigail with an uncharacteristic smirk. "Nearly finished,"

"Thanks for helping with that,"

"My pleasure,"

Abigail then proceeded to the elevator, arriving in the workshop just as Tony finished his boots, his first robotic creation trying to help him. She hadn't been there when the robot had been finished but she'd come to affectionately call the thing Dummy, though Tony called it that for a much more malicious reason.

"Next. Up. Not in the boot, Dummy. Right here, you got me? Stay put… Nice… You're of no benefit at all. Move down to the toe. I got this… Okay, I'm sorry, am I in your way? … Up… Screw it. Don't even move… You are a tragedy,"

"I like him," Abigail smiled, walking over as Tony opened the boot. "You fixed what you were trying to do last night?"

Tony gave her a look before picking up the boot and walking away from her without a word. She rolled her eyes and went over her computer set up, working bored-ly as she watched him set up for a test run. Once that was done, Abigail ignored him as he got into the boots and hooked them up to his arc reactor, putting on a harness around his chest to protect the wiring.

"Okay, let's do this right. Stark mark, half a meter, and back to center. Dummy, look alive, you're on standby for fire safety. You, roll it,"

Abigail glanced up from the computer screens, letting her glasses slide down her nose as she watched Tony from the safety of the computer area.

"Okay. Activate hand controls. We're gonna start off nice and easy. We're gonna see if 10% thrust capacity achieves lift… And three, two, one-"

Abigail was frozen, her mouth open wide beneath her hand as she stared at where Tony was currently lying on the ground. The second he'd hit the lift off button he'd shot into the air, slamming into the lowered ceiling and then dropping back down again with a colossal thud. It took Abigail a full four seconds before she shot out of her chair and went running to Tony's side. Abigail pushed Dummy away, who was currently aiming and firing a fire extinguisher down at Tony, and dropped down onto her good knee as Tony sat up groaning.

"Are you okay?"

Tony shut off the hand controls and shucked off the boots before sitting back, his back against a nearby tool chest. "I wasn't expecting that,"

Abigail couldn't help but laugh at the man, leaning forward and giving him a kiss on the cheek before returning to her work. What she didn't see was the happy smile that appeared on Tony's face despite the pain of his fall.

Tony decided that next thing to design would be some flight stabilizers in the form of gloves, the repulsers set in the palms of his hands. It took him the rest of the day to finish the blue prints for them and have Jarvis machine the parts for him, which took longer than he would have liked. When the parts were positioned on his work bench he was ready to start on creating the glove itself.

"No,"

"No?" Tony asked, his eyebrows rising as he watched Abigail shake her head as she headed toward him, looking like a mother as she grabbed his shoulders and aimed him towards the elevator. "I thought I was the boss here? Isn't this my house, my rules?"

"I'm the woman and a woman's word is law," Abigail argued half-heartedly but firm in her stance that Tony needed his sleep. "The parts will be waiting for you in the morning. You need to sleep,"

"I don't want to sleep. I want to work,"

Abigail pressed the up button and set the elevator in motion, allowing her to turn to him and glare. "You've barely slept since you got back except for last night which was restless. You need to let your grey matter rest, your mind to relax and your body to heal. Not to mention that you probably did some serious damage to that boot since you were so tired,"

"I can do more good working than I can get rest when sleeping, Abigail," Tony told her just as firmly, even going as far as to use her actual name instead of his typical nicknames. "I don't want to have nightmares. They suck,"

The two glared at each other, a silent battle that both were determined to win.

"What's it going to take to get you to sleep?"

"Sleep with me,"

"No," Abigail told him instantly, turning away from him as the elevator stopped.

Tony rolled his eyes. "Not like that,"

Abigail walked out of the elevator, entering her room before turning back as Tony walked into the doorway, blocking him from entering. Abigail watched him for a full ten seconds, making Tony feel awkward to just be standing there saying nothing, but feeling hopeful that he was breaking her down.

"I'll be there in ten minutes," Abigail conceded, watching a smirk appear on Tony's face. "You better keep your clothes on and your appendages to yourself, Mr,"

"Scouts honor,"

"You weren't a scout,"

"I know,"

Abigail rolled her eyes, shoving him out of her room so that she could close her door and get changed and ready for bed. She pulled on a pair of male pajama pants and a men's flannel shirt with only the center three buttons done. She went to the bathroom, brushed her teeth, washed her face, brushed her hair and put it into a messy bun that seemed more like a ponytail as it tried to escape the band that held it. Abigail sighed, walking back into her room for one last nighttime practice. Her meds. It had become so easy after so many years with so many sizes and shapes for so many different reasons. Sometimes she just wished she was healthy.

That done, Abigail moved to Tony's room, arriving as he pulled on a new shirt, the fabric dimming the like of the arc reactor a bit. He looked up at her tiredly, trying to smirk but only ending up with a tired smile. She didn't bother with a reply and just waited for Tony to get into bed before following him in, happy to see that he still slept on the right side of the bed. She crawled in slowly, pulling the covers around her before flipping onto her side, her back to Tony, her right knee resting against the bed while the other curled up towards her.

She repressed the sigh of relief that welled up in her throat when she settled into his bed. If it was at all possible, his bed was twice as comfortable as the one in her room which was fifty times softer than a normal bed which was a hundred times softer than the one in her apartment. She'd have to buy a new one when she got back. There was no way she could sleep like this and then return to… _that_.

Abigail could feel the warmth of Tony's body radiating into her back, his arm only a few inches from her which made her groan internally. With her back warmed by Tony, the rest of her was going to think she was freezing. She was already ready to curl up into herself to reserve heat. It didn't help that all Tony had was silk sheets and a flimsy fur blanket pushed towards the bottom of the bed, only keeping the foot of her right leg warm.

This was weird.

"Can't do it," Abigail swung up, grabbing her cane as she headed towards the door.

"Hey! Where are you going?"

"Your bed is freezing!" Abigail exclaimed at him as she reached his door. "I'm getting a blanket… or five,"

"_Doesn't help you were always an icicle_,"

"What'd you say?"

"Nothing, dear,"

Abigail smiled and proceeded to grab a blanket from her bedroom, returning to Tony's room with the bundle of fabric. Carefully, she followed the light of Tony's arc reactor back to the bed when she tossed the blanket over her side. She quickly climbed in and pulled it desperately around her for heat. She could almost feel the little bit of heat her body created being held in by the blanket which was already warm in itself. With a quick wiggle, she settled happily.

"You done now?"

She frowned at Tony before wriggling her hips for good measure just to annoy him, grinning into the darkness of Tony's room as she settled. "Yeah, I think so,"

She could almost hear the eye roll.

About an hour later Abigail was nearly asleep, her mind drifting into unconsciousness when she felt the bed jerk. She didn't react at first, not fully awake to remember what was probably happening beside her. However, when she heard Tony start grunting and an arm wacked her in the back, she turned over and wrapped an arm around his waist. Tony jerked awake under her, a sudden intake of breath before his body relaxed beneath her, an arm coming up to pet her hair.

"I thought we were keeping our appendages to ourselves,"

Abigail made a sleepy noise. "_You_. Not me,"

She was woken up a few more times during the night, at one point getting punched in the chest, thoroughly waking the both of them up when she let out a pained and surprised yelp. Tony apologized but she just frowned and laid back down, stubbornly using his shoulder as her new pillow, turning her back so that it was against his side. Tony sighed, falling back to sleep again.


	11. Forgiveness

**The One That Got Away**

* * *

**Chapter 11 – Forgiveness**

* * *

The next time Abigail woke up she was alone, her blanket tucked tightly around her. She debated on sleeping in but upon hearing the sound of machines from the workshop, she decided that getting up would be the best option. She took a shower, got dressed and headed downstairs, arriving to find Tony putting the pieces of the flight stabilizer together. As she stepped inside, the only sounds in the workshop were Tony's working and Abigail's cane, so Tony looked up at her feigning disinterest before turning his attention back to the glove.

"How's the… whatever I hit?"

Abigail was confused for a moment before she remembered getting slugged in the breast, her shoulder immediately shifting to try to find the bruised area. She found it. Her hand came up to cup her breast, shifting it to the side before peaking down her shirt to find a nasty purple smudge.

"Having fun?"

Abigail looked up to find Tony watching her.

"You nailed me good-"

"Now we agreed not to have any funny business,"

She rolled her eyes and looked back down her shirt. "I meant the bruise,"

Tony was silent for a whole thirty second before returning to his work, making Abigail let go of herself to look up at him. He looked like a little boy that knew he'd done something wrong and was getting ready for the biggest spanking he would ever get in his life. He looked guilty.

"Sorry about that,"

"It's fine, Tony," she assured him. "My fault for sleeping with you… but whatever it takes to get you to sleep is what I'm going to do. You need sleep and you need to resettle into your life,"

Tony didn't say anything to that, just kept his eyes on his work, leaving Abigail to go to work on his systems. But by the end of the day, Tony had distracted her from what she was supposed to be doing and the two were talking about nearly anything and everything as he worked on the repulsers. They even had an entire conversation- more like an argument- about how many Robins there were (Tony thought there were five Robins but Abigail was sure there were three boy Robins and a girl) before Jarvis ended it for them. Apparently there were four boys and a girl Robin if you didn't include AU story arcs.

Tony was almost finished with his first repulser when Pepper came down the stairs with a box wrapped in brown paper, two cups of coffee and a magazine.

"I've been buzzing you. Didn't you hear the intercom?"

"Yeah, everything's- What?"

"Obadiah's upstairs. What would you like me to-?"

"Great. We'll be right up," Tony nodded, lifting the arm that was wearing the flight stabilizer and pressing the '_go_' button, making Abigail stand up from her seat and take a step back.

"I thought you said you were done making weapons,"

"I am. This is a flight stabilizer. It's completely harmless," The build of energy sent Tony flying backwards, landing on the ground with a thud that left both women staring at him in shock, Abigail recovering first as Tony sat up. "I didn't expect that,"

"You're never expecting that," Abigail murmured with a snort.

Tony glared at her.

Together, Abigail and Tony got him out of the harness and flight stabilizer before he tried to force her to come upstairs with him. Abigail just gave him a look that told him '_bite me_'. So he didn't fight her on it. Even though Obadiah had been a father figure to him ever since his father had died and had helped him with his company for the past twenty years, Tony knew that Abigail hated the man. He really didn't blame her despite his soft spot for the man.

So Abigail sat back in Tony's favorite leather chair and waited for him to come back, listening as the voices from upstairs carried down to her. Sometimes she wondered if it was purely the hate that he uncle had instilled in her that made her not like Obadiah Stane. When she was a teen he hadn't been such a bad guy, in fact she'd respected him for being such a role model for Tony. But then again, CEOs and other powerful people typically creeped her out.

Abigail sat and waited as she listened to Tony's footsteps descend toward her, crossing her arms over her chest as he appeared, two three pieces of pizza in his hand. He dialed in and handed her one before walking back over to the repulser. She stared down at the triangle skeptically, debating whether to make the small leap of forgiveness towards Obadiah that eating the pizza would mean.

"Abs. It's just pizza,"

She looked up at Tony in surprise, finding him with his arm in his repulser and his eyes on her, an eyebrow arched. She ducked her head and hesitantly took a bite, a voice in the back of her head telling her that her Uncle Rick would be furious at her right now… not that he wouldn't be furious that she was currently living and sharing a bed with Tony Stark. But the pizza was delicious and in no time it was gone and Tony had finished both of his and his flight stabilizer, trying to sneak around her to start on the next one.

"Nuh uh," she chastised, watching as he arched an eyebrow at her as he turned. "It's your bedtime. You've finished one job, you can start the next one tomorrow,"

"When did you become my mother?"

Abigail smiled. "You're a little confused; _Jarvis_ is your mother, _I'm_ your nagging wife,"

Tony seemed thoughtful for a long moment before he smiled. "I like the sound of that,"

She dropped her eyes, a blush making her cheeks tingling as she stood up, headed towards the elevator with Tony only a few steps behind her.

Abigail, like the night before, had tried going to sleep with her back to Tony but she eventually found herself using him as a pillow, his nightmares forcing her to take action a couple times during the night. This time, instead of getting punched in the breast, she got elbowed in the side which thoroughly woke her up, the wound from the attack three months ago still feeling fresh. The bullet wound wasn't one she thought of often since it was usually her knee that bothered her but right now that wound felt as fresh as the day she woke up with it. She was awake for a while after that, resting against Tony's side watching him sleep, her eyes observing him carefully.

He looked peaceful at the moment, not dreaming. His face, which was usually making some sort of face (sarcastic, mock-surprised, focused, etc.) was currently a blank slate of peacefulness. She set her chin on his shoulder and took a deep breath in through her nose, the smell of Tony filling her nose with man and distant memories.

_Abigail wasn't smiling like an idiot like she thought she would have been. Sex might have felt good but it felt her also feeling tired and a little grossed out. Not to mention that she would need to change her sheets before her uncle got home, thanks to Tony. _

"_I don't know how I felt about that,"_

_Tony shrugged beside. "I wouldn't write it off,"_

_She could help but laugh at that, only to frown a second later. "It's everywhere,"_

"_Ew,"_

"_What? It's your stuff, not mine,"_

"_Definitely using a condom next time,"_

"_Duh,"_

_Tony helped her clean up the evidence of what they'd done for the first time together before she went to take a shower. Getting clean had never felt so good until that day, feeling the sweat and everything rush off of her with the water. It was only when she heard the shower curtain get pulled back that she knew that she wasn't alone. _

"_Tony," she frowned, unable to glare at him with the water in her eyes. "I'm trying to get clean. Not to mention my Uncle is going to be home-"_

"_He left a message saying he's going to be late," Tony said in her ear, his naked body pressing up against her back as his arms snaked around her waist. _

_She instantly felt hot despite their previous go at sex. She knew that it could and would get better with practice… she just didn't want to do it in the shower… where she took a shower every morning before school. She already was going to have those memories when she got out of bed every morning and got into it every night. However, as his hands skimmed over her body, her mind started short circuiting as her breath started coming out in huffs. _

_She could smell him even through the clean scent of the hot water. It was a mixture of musky sweat that every boy smelled a little like, his cologne that he used and oil. When she'd first got a whiff of him it had been an odd mix of scents that had interested her. Now it turned her on. _

Abigail rolled away from him until her back was to him again, frowning at the memory. He still smelled mostly the same except the sweat of teen had turned into the musk of man that was better hidden by a different type of cologne. And the oil smell was still there, no matter how hard he might try to hide it from her.

"Check points…"

Abigail frowned, turning over carefully so that she wasn't touching him. His eyebrows were drawn together as if he were thinking hard about something or upset. She knew it was the beginning of a night terror but she knew she'd have to let it play out more before she had any chance of waking him up.

"Yensin… Yensin, stick to the plan!"

She winced, her knee brushing against his hand as she fought not to wake him. But he seemed to be calming down again, his body going slack against the sheets. She watched him for another moment as his face turned towards her, his eyebrows still drawn together.

"… don't waste it… Abby… Abby?"

Abigail was up in a second, a hands on his shoulder. "Tony? I'm here…"

That seemed the wrong thing to do as Tony frowned, his eyebrows furrowing as his shoulder stiffened beneath her touch. "No," he hissed, shaking his head. "No!" Tony suddenly started thrashing around, more violent than ever, nearly hitting Abigail again as he fought. "No! Get out of here! You can't! NO! ABIGAIL!" Tony suddenly sat up like a shot, his eyes wide as he began to hyperventilate. In response, Abigail wrapped her arms around his middle and tucked her head into his chest despite the hard metal of the reactor. She held him tightly, closing her eyes tightly as she listened to his speeding heart gallop beneath her ear. It took a long few minutes before she felt Tony's heart began to slow as her moved, a hand appearing in her hair. Then she was pulled back as he relaxed back against the bed, bringing Abigail down with him, petting her head with a heavy hand.

The two stayed like that for ten minutes in silence, just holding each other and breathing.

"Who's Yensin?" Abigail finally asked hesitantly, her voice slightly muffled by his shirt. "You don't have to-"

"He was with me when the Ten Rings held me. He helped me get through it, helped me make the suit, helped me see things… he saved me,"

"What happened to him?"

Tony was silent for a long time and Abigail was sure that she'd overstepped, content just to remain silent until Tony fell back asleep. But then Tony spoke. "He was killed,"

"… I'm sorry,"

"He went running out of our cell firing… he was trying to buy me time and it got him killed. I suppose that was what he wanted. His family was already all dead… He shouldn't have taken on all of them alone. He should've waited. He should've…"

"Sometimes there is no way out, Tony,"

"Right," Tony scoffed.

"It was what he wanted and it saved you. You can't be mad at him for that,"

"I'm not…"

"But you're wondering if you could have saved him," she finished for him. "Tony… sometimes people don't want to be saved,"


	12. Falling Again

**The One That Got Away**

* * *

**Chapter 12 – Falling Again**

* * *

A few days later, Abigail woke up with her head on Tony's stomach, the rest of her body in the shape of an L away from him. She was sure she would have continued sleeping if her butt hadn't been hanging out from under her blanket, leaving her rear to freeze off in the morning air. She couldn't understand how everyone went around in the mornings pretending that it was warm. To her, she was fine to be wrapped up in a fuzzy blanket until the sun was high in the sky and the streets were sweltering with heat.

She moved up until her head was against Tony's shoulder, pushing at the blanket until her entire body was under the blanket again. It was nice waking up next to someone again, especially someone who- at least used to- sleep like a rock. He might go to sleep at ungodly times and then wake up painfully early but when he's asleep there was almost no chance of waking him up.

"_Tony?"_

_She'd come over when he hadn't come over like they'd planned and when no one had answered the phone at his house. She hadn't been completely surprised considering that their butler had been given the week off for personal reasons and his parents had gone on a business trip. But after the third call in a half hour, she'd decided to just come over. _

"_Tony,"_

_Nothing happened. Tony's mouth was open, jaw slack and his arms thrown out across his pillow like a sea star. It interested Abigail to know that Tony didn't sleep in anything but boxers as she could see from the skin peeking out from under his comforter. It made her blush a little bit when she pushed at his arm, making him shift a little and his mouth close in a frown. _

"_Tony,"_

_He groaned, rolling over until his back was toward her. _

"_Tony," she frowned, losing her patience with him. "Tony!"_

_He groaned again, turning over until he was peeking at her through hooded eyelids. _

"_You were supposed to pick me up an hour ago,"_

_He frowned and turned back over to fall asleep again._

A hand came up and rested comfortably against her waist, wrapping warmth around her middle. It made her smile as she tucked her good leg against her, butting it up against Tony's hip; her other leg remained down, unable to bend quite that far.

"Getting comfortable?"

"Yep," she smiled, turning her face into the cotton of his shirt. "So don't you dare move,"

He laughed, the sound reverberating through her body in a way that made Abigail's smile widen against his shoulder. She knew he could feel it but she didn't care. Right now she was comfortable.

"Sorry to be the party pooper but I need to get up and get to work,"

Before he could move, she grabbed his arm in a vice grip. "If you move, I will have Jarvis speaking German and calling you Frau Tonya,"

She could feel when he gave in by the relaxing of his body beneath hers and she could help the victorious smile that spread across her face.

When she woke up again- not that she meant to fall asleep again- she found that he was gone, still in the same position she'd been except a pillow had been placed beneath her cheek. She frowned into it as she stretched, her knee achy like it usually was in the morning. With a huff, she slipped out of bed and into the shower, running to her room as the cold air kissed her wet skin.

Once her clothes were on, she found Tony hooking himself up and readying himself to test out the boots with his new flight stabilizers. She walked in quietly so as not to disturb him, sitting down at her desk to get back to work.

"… Day eleven, test thirty-seven, configuration two point oh. For lack of a better option, Dummy is still on fire safety," Tony turned, looking over his shoulder at the machine. "If you douse me again and I'm not on fire, I'm donating you to a city college,"

"He's just trying to be helpful," Abigail smiled from across the room, her eyes aimed at the computer screen in front of her.

Tony rolled his eyes but chose to ignore her. "All right, nice and easy. Seriously, just gonna start off with one percent thrust capacity-"

"_Thank God_,"

Tony heaved a sigh, looking over Abigail as a smile appeared on her face again. "Excuse me. If you have something to say, say it to the _whole_ class,"

She looked up at him innocently, as if this were the first time she was hearing him. "What?"

He snorted at her, turning away from her to return back to his test. "And three, two… one,"

All four repulsers lit up, sending Tony a foot up into the air to hover above the mat. Abigail watched in surprise, somehow not having believed until now that he could actually accomplish what she'd believed to be impossible. However, there he was, hovering jerkily above the ground before he landed with a metallic thud, taking a few steps to balance himself.

He glanced back at Dummy, whose nozzle was aimed directly at him. "Okay, please don't follow me around with it either 'cause I feel like I'm gonna catch on fire spontaneously. Just stand down! If something happens, then come in,"

Abigail snorted.

"And again, let's bring it up to two point five… Three, two, one,"

The repulsers lit up again and Tony was hovering again. Abigail watched as he started to move about the room, tilting himself in any given direction to send him in the opposite. It was an amazing sight until he was hovering over his prized cars.

"Okay, this is where I don't want to be!"

Then, Tony was suddenly headed towards her, sending a jolt of fear up her spine as she kept coming towards her. All of the papers on a nearby table scattering as their eyes met, recognizing the potentially bad situation before they collided. Abigail was about to move to get up when Tony put his hands out in front of him, sending himself towards the testing pad again.

"Okay. Could be worse! We're fine. I'm getting it,"

Tony touched down again with a thud, smirking triumphantly.

"Yeah, I can fly,"

After that, the rest of the day was spent building the exterior of the armor while Abigail to put the put the finishing touches on the system for the suit. It was interesting having to work through the annoyingly loud sounds of Jarvis fabricating the pieces. Abigail was close to finishing when she had to get up for a break from the noise, getting some Advil with a bottle of orange juice from the fridge. When she returned, the suit was ready to be assembled by the arms Tony and her had programmed. This meant that she had to finish things on the fly as Tony got the suit on.

"_Jarvis? Abigail? Are you there?_"

"Yep," Abigail smiled, fixing the microphone on her headset. "Uploading new system and importing all preferences from home interface… Engaging Heads Up Display," The eyes of the suit lit up as the programming finished loading, two of Abigail's monitors lighting up to her left. One was of what Tony was seeing while the other was of his face. "We're online and ready. You like the set up?"

"_Good. I like all the setup of the display. Lots of information_,"

"Not too busy for you?" Abigail snorted, rolling her eyes. "Wait, what am I saying? I'm talking to the master multitasking,"

"_I have been uploaded, sir. I am at your service_,"

"_All right, what do you say? Start the virtual walk-around?_"

"_Calibrating virtual environment_,"

"_Do a check on control surfaces_,"

"_As you wish_,"

Abigail sat up straight so that she could watch the suit with her own eyes. Everything on the suit began to shift before her eyes, like a beetle testing its wings before it took off, opening up and flipping open before returning to normal again. This suit was probably one of the coolest things that she'd ever seen in her life… ever.

"_Test complete. Preparing to__power down and begin diagnostics_,"

"_Yeah, tell you what, do a weather and ATC check.__Start listening in on ground control_,"

Abigail's eyes just about popped out of her head as she yanked off her glasses, glaring at the back of the metal head of the suit. "No, Tony. Not only does Jarvis still have terabytes of calculations to go through but I still need to-"

"Abs_… Sometimes you got to run before you can walk_,"

"That makes no sense,"

"_Ready?_"

"No!"

"_In three, two, one_,"

Tony lifted off the ground before shifting his weight forward and went shooting out of the workshop. Abigail groaned, shifting in her chair as she angled herself back towards her computers, watching as the world whizzed by him on one of her monitors. There was no use stopping him now that he was gone and flying around the city. As much as she would have loved to type in the codes that would shut down his suit around him, she figured he wouldn't enjoy that.

"_Handles like a dream!_" Tony yelled through the intercom. "_All right, let's see what__this thing can do.__What's SR-71's record?_"

Abigail pressed her forehead into her hand as she watched him head straight for the moon, feeling a headache coming on.

"_The altitude record for fixed wing flight__is eighty-five thousand feet, sir_,"

"Don't encourage him, Jarvis!"

"_Records are made to be broken!_"

Abigail watched through the monitors as the image began to distort from ice and then began to flicker as the suit began to fail. "Tony, you're icing up! You're suit's systems are going to-" The video feed cut out. "-shut down," She finished in a whine, typing away at her computers to try to reestablish a connection again, getting shaky after fifteen seconds had passed by. "Tony Stark, if you die because of this-" And then the monitors lit up again.

Abigail sagged back into her seat as Tony's happy exclamation met her ears, telling her that the idiot hadn't killed himself just yet. That was one thing she could say for Tony; he always shook her up, even if it nearly killed him to do it.

After a few more minutes of flying, she could hear the Mark 2 just above the house. That was probably something she was going to have to remind him to fix. If she could hear the damn thing through a multistory house and even feel the desk vibrating beneath her hands, there was no way he was going to be doing anything stealthily in the future.

A crack was heard above her head just before a massive crash sent her ducking under the nearest table. Her heart was hammering into her breast bone as guns were going off and bombs were exploding near her, her eyes flashing around the room to try to find them… But there were no guns or bombs. There was just a man in a very heavy suit lying on a crushed car, Dummy spraying the fire extinguisher at him. Abigail took a deep breath to try to slow down her heart rate, watching as Tony got up with a great deal of trouble.

"Abby?"

Tony looked around the room, confused when he didn't see her in her normal seat behind the computer monitors. Instead, he watched as she hesitantly crawled out from under her desk, her headset coming off with a pull from the cord. Even from this distance he could see her legs shaking as she took in an equally shaky breath. Her wide brown eyes made her look like a doe in front of a pair of fast approaching headlights.

"Sorry," she murmured, her hands wringing themselves nervously in front of her. "Sorry, you… You just surprised me. I w-was expecting you to come though the garage door…"

Tony watched Abigail shift uncomfortable under his gaze, her eyes turning to look at anything but him as she tried to appear calm. For the second time this week, Tony was hit with a feeling of guilt that he wasn't used to feeling except when he was with Abigail. He'd legitimately scared her, scared her enough to send her under a table and coming back up shaking like a leaf.

"You okay?"

Abigail looked over at him again, her breathing still irregular. After a moment, she shook her head. "No… not really, no,"

"I'd hug you but I'd probably squash you,"

A strangled bark of a laugh left her mouth, surprising her into looking at him again.

"Go upstairs, Abs. Get some rest. I'll be up in a minute,"

She didn't argue, just limped around the table until she reached her cane, picking it up before heading to the elevator.

Tony sighed and moved to allow his machines to pull off his armor. It took longer than he would have liked but once it was finally off, he headed towards the mini-fridge to pull out an icepack. He groaned as it touched his head, the fall having caused a bit more damage than he would have liked.

He was headed for the elevator when a box wrapped brown paper caught his eye. It was the box that Pepper had brought down for Abigail yesterday. It had a sticky note on it with writing on it.

_**From Abigail and Pepper**_**.**

Tony set down his icepack and ripped the paper off to reveal a glass case with his old arc reactor sitting in it, a metal band around it that said; **Proof That Tony Stark Has A Heart**. Tony couldn't help the smile that appeared on his face as he thought of the woman upstairs. She'd probably had Pepper do this for her after she helped him put in his new one.

If it was possible, Tony was falling even harder for Abigail the second time around.

Tony placed the case over on his work bench, up on top of a stack of magazines before heading upstairs. He opened the door to his bedroom and silently entered, the light hitting Abigail telling him that she was already asleep. She was curled up into a ball under her blanket, her arms wrapped around her torso and her good leg drawn up toward her chest as far as was comfortable. Tony felt guilt itching at the back of neck but he ignored it and got ready for bed, slipping into the oversized bed next to her without waking her. After a moment she shivered and wriggled backward until her back touched his arm, eventually rolling over to scoot up against him.

Like Tony remembered, she was as cold as an icicle.

Tony glanced down at the love of his life, absentmindedly realizing that she'd made him fall for her all over again in only a little over two weeks. He'd fallen bad.


	13. Why Didn't You Come Back?

**The One That Got Away**

* * *

**Chapter 13 – Why Didn't You Come Back?**

* * *

Abigail had just finished a few hours of working on Tony's personal systems. She'd done some upgrading for his encrypted, done some tinkering with the security of the house, backing it up and making several fail safes that only allowed Tony access and whoever else he allowed in. She then finished off her work with doing some calibrations and making some changes in the systems for the suit when she heard the glass door that leaded to the stairs open.

She knew it was Tony so she didn't bother turning around, wanting to finish her work before she talked to him. She was almost finished when a pair of hands covered her eyes, careful not to shove her glasses into her face. She frowned at them, taking her hands off the key board to press them into the cool glass of the desk.

"Guess who?"

Abigail pretended to think about it. "Candy gram? Pizza boy? Male stripper?"

"Only on Sundays,"

Abigail couldn't help the smile she turned on his as he removed his hands, leaning over her shoulder to look at the screen.

"I wanted to makes some notes and change some things for the Mark 3. You mind?"

"No. Go ahead,"

Tony stepped away from her and started pacing, shifting the icepack on his shoulder. "Jarvis? You ready?"

"_Of course, sir_,"

"Notes. Main transducer feels sluggish at plus forty altitudes, hull pressurization is problematic… I'm thinking icing is the probable factor,"

"_A very astute observation, sir.__Perhaps, if you intend__to visit other planets,__we should improve the exosystems_,"

Tony stopped walking and stared at Abigail, looking like he was in shock. "Did you teach our little AI sarcasm?"

She gave him an innocent look from her seat. "He would have learned it from somewhere eventually,"

Tony shook his head and continued pacing. "Connect to the sys. co. Have it reconfigure the shell metals. Use the gold titanium alloy from the seraphim tactical satellite. That should ensure a fuselage integrity while maintaining power-to-weight ratio. Got it?"

"_Yes. Shall I render using proposed specifications_?"

"Thrill me,"

Tony's attention turned to the TV as Jarvis went to work while Abigail's eyes reamed on the picture appearing on her screen. The image of the new suit of armor made her nose scrunch before an idea came to mind and she typed in new specifications.

"_Tonight's red-hot red carpet is right here at the Disney Concert Hall where Tony Stark's third annual benefit for the Firefighter's Family Fund has become the place to be for L.A.'s high society_,"

"Jarvis, we get an invite for that?"

"_I have no record of an invitation, sir_,"

Abigail glanced up at the television, seeing a reporter standing in front of a group of very important people. Next a picture of Tony at his last press conference where he declared Stark Industries as a no weapons zone came on the screen. "… _hasn't been seen in public since his bizarre and highly controversial press conference.__Some claim he's suffering__from posttraumatic stress__and has been bedridden for weeks.__Whatever the case may be,__no one expects an appearance from him tonight_,"

"_The render is complete_,"

"Whatcha got, tatter-tot?" Tony pulled his attention away from the television and walked up behind Abigail, looking over her shoulder at the new suit. He smiled at the image that greeted him on the screen. "Red, too? A little ostentatious, don't you think?"

"What was I thinking? You're usually so subtle," Abigail said with a roll of her eyes, leaning abck in her seat. "And it's _hotrod_ red. Just _red_ would have looked stupid,"

Tony stared at the suit for a moment before he straightened. "I like it. Fabricate it. Paint it,"

"_Commencing automated assembly.__Estimated completion time is five hours_,"

"Come on, Abby. We're going out,"

Abigail stared at Tony in shock, watching him head for the elevator. "Wait, _what_?"

"We're gonna crash a party. Come on,"

"Tony, I really don't think-"

"Don't think then. Just come on,"

"I don't have a dress,"

"I'll buy you Bloomingdale's, Abercrombie, Loehmann's, JC Penny's and that one snotty shoe store from _Pretty Woman_. I'll get you a dress. Don't worry about it. Let's go,"

Tony ushered Abigail into the elevator and headed upstairs, changing into a suit before heading right back downstairs. He grabbed her hand and brought her back down to the garage to get into his favorite car, zooming off to the nearest dress store.

It took longer for Tony to force Abigail to let him buy her a dress than it did for her to actually find an actual dress. The store clerk had been more than happy to dress Abigail up like a Barbie doll, bringing the dresses to her. Ten minutes later Abigail stepped out of the dressing room with a jacket already on, her cheeks pink as she pulled the black jacket around her. Tony bought the dress with a three hundred dollar tip before the two of them headed to the Disney Concert Hall, arriving mid party.

As soon as Abigail stepped out of the car she stayed close to him, her hand holding his tightly as they weaved their way through the crowds of people. She wasn't a shy person by any means but the large amount of people and the flashing of camera aimed at them didn't help her confidence. She kept her eyes down as she followed him, trying to keep up when there was very few places her cane could land so that she could walk.

She was allowed a respite when Tony stopped next to Obadiah, who was currently in the middle of an interview; "… Weapons manufacturing is only one small part of what Stark Industries is all about, and our partnership with the fire and rescue community-"

"What's the world coming to when a guy's got to crash his own party?"

Obadiah looked up in surprise but hid it well. "Look at you. Hey, what a surprise. Who's this?"

Tony gently tugged on Abigail's hand until she was beside him, knowing full well she'd rather ignore the man who had destroyed her uncle's business than talk to him. However, Tony respected Obadiah and thought of him as a close friend and mentor. There wasn't any way that he was going to hide Abigail from him.

"You remember Abigail Pierce, Obie. We dated when we were younger,"

Obadiah's eyes widened as he looked over the woman. "Abigail? Little Abby? My God, you look so different. I didn't even recognize you. You're all grown up,"

Abigail gave an uncomfortable smile. "Hello, Obadiah,"

"How's your uncle? Plenty of time on his hands I assume,"

Abigail glared. "He's doing fine… How's your investments doing? I heard that Ipack lost about 50 points last month-"

"So, we'll see you inside," Tony interrupted, pulling Abigail towards the steps of the hall before she could say anything else.

"Hey. Listen, take it slow, all right?" Obadiah told him, grabbing him by the shoulder to whisper in his ear; "I think I got the board right where we want them,"

"You got it," Tony nodded. "Just cabin fever. I'll just be a minute,"

Abigail followed Tony up the stairs, entering the building on his arm when she figured that the cane was going to be pointless tonight. She let him lead her over to the bar, Tony ordering a scotch for himself and a glass of wine which she silently thanked him for.

"Mr. Stark?" The two of them looked over to find an official looking man smiling at Tony, his hand already out for a handshake. "Agent Coulson from the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division,"

"God, you need a new name for that,"

"Yeah, I hear that a lot," The agent's eyes then went to Abigail, nodding his head to her. "It's good to see you again, Miss Pierce. Staying out of trouble I hope,"

"Trying," Abigail told him with a mischievous smile. "Nice to see you again, Agent,"

Tony looked between them with a frown. "You know him?"

Abigail went to explain but Agent Coulson beat her to it. "A few years back she became an interest to our agency after hacking into our systems. We offered her a job,"

"Which I didn't take," Abigail finished.

"So it wasn't the FBI…?"

She shook her head. "I hacked them in five and they never even noticed. _These_ guys on the other hand, are a little trickier,"

"And I hope you won't be trying it again, Miss Pierce,"

With a smile, she crossed her heart and held up three fingers. "Scouts honor,"

Tony smiled.

"Listen, Mr. Stark. I know this must be a trying time for you, but we need to debrief you. There are still a lot of…"

Tony had been paying attention- really he had- until his eyes had caught on movement beside him. Abigail had taken a sip of her wine and pulled off her coat to set it on the stool beside her. This meant that he could see what the little black had been hiding from him, which was a great deal. Underneath had been a red dress that revealed none of her chest but cut off in a straight like just below her shoulders and neck. But the back was the contrast to the high collar. It fell down just below her rear, revealing the skin of her back where her auburn hair didn't fall to cover it. Her back was flawless except for the scar he could see peeking out from the fabric on her right side.

"… at seven p.m. at Stark Industries?"

Tony nodded at the agent, looking serious but his eyes were only for Abigail. "Tell you what, you got it. You're absolutely right," His eyes still on Abigail, he managed to clasp the man's hand and shake it. "I'm going to go to my assistant and we'll make a date. Abs, how about you help me with that?"

Abigail looked up at Tony curiously as he took her hand and pulled him with her, leaving her only a moment to wave goodbye to Agent Coulson. She followed him onto the dance floor, glancing around for Pepper but couldn't see the woman anywhere in the direction they were headed. The two of them had just gotten to the center of the dance floor when Tony suddenly turned, capturing her hand and waist.

"You want to dance?"

"Do I really have a choice?"

"Not really,"

"Then sure. Why not?" Abigail said with a roll of her eyes, shifting her cane to hang off of her wrist and tried not to lean to heavily on Tony as her knee groaned in protest at the prospect of dancing.

"You look amazing by the way. Whoever got you that dress has amazing taste,"

"Thanks. I think her name was Martha,"

"Oh really?"

"Really,"

They settled into silence as they moved about the room, dodging around other dancing partners on the floor. Abigail didn't mind dancing, especially when it was with Tony… but she was having issues with all the people watching them. She probably wouldn't have noticed if it hadn't been so many people… and that one woman who just pointed at her. Abigail ducked her head, staring at Tony's shoulder intently.

"Am I making you uncomfortable?"

"Nope. I always forget to wear makeup, do my hair or wear deodorant and now I'm dancing with a genius billionaire playboy philanthropist in front of a room full of rich people staring at me while I'm in a tight fitting dress with no back,"

"You look great, you smell great and not everyone's staring. That guy over there isn't staring. He just looked,"

Abigail snorted and rolled her eyes. "Oh, God,"

"I could do something obnoxious in front of everyone if that would take the edge off?"

"I actually don't think that would help at all, surprisingly," she smiled, her eyes ducking down to where she knew Tony's arc reactor was nestled in his chest. Her cheeks were turning red as embarrassment and butterflies started filling her stomach. She hadn't been expecting this.

"How about a little air?"

"Yes, I need some air. Air would be good,"

Tony let go of her hand and led her towards the balcony which was surprisingly empty of people at the moment. He watched as she took her cane from her wrist and leaned heavily on it, her knee obviously having been bothering her from dancing even in that short amount of time. He followed her out to the railing where she went from leaning on her cane to hooking her cane on the railing and leaning on that instead. She auburn hair fell down her back in long random waves, covering much of her back that her red dress revealed to him in the lights from the party.

"That was weird," Abigail murmured, glancing over her shoulder at him. "It was like that time we crashed our own junior prom,"

"It didn't help that we were dancing like five year olds,"

"_You_ started it,"

"Maybe,"

"Definitely,"

Abigail smiled as she watched him approach her, his hand skating across her back as he stepped up beside her. It made her shiver… it also made her aware of the people watching them.

"We're going to be in the press tomorrow," Abigail murmured, looking down over the balcony to the people snapping photos left and right. "This was a bad idea,"

"It's totally harmless,"

"It's totally not harmless,"

"We were dancing. No one was even watching,"

"Everyone was watching except for that one guy that _just looked_," she said, lifting her hands from the rails to make air quotes around the words.

"I think you lost objectivity. I think they just- People- They…" Tony frown, looking frustrated with her. "We just danced!"

"No, it was _not_ just a dance. You don't understand because you're _you_ and everybody knows exactly who you are and how you are with girls and all of that, which is _completely_ fine. But then there's _me_, I'm just me that no one knows about with her damn bum knee and-"

"You really shouldn't curse,"

"Don't interrupt me!"

"Sorry,"

"This whole thing makes me look like the Maxim models from last year's calendar or one of those girls who asks if you remember them and it makes me look like the one who's trying to-"

"I don't think it was taken that way. I just think you're overstating it,"

Abigail was glaring at him.

"Sorry. Interrupting again,"

She sighed, turning back to look over the railing so she wasn't looking at him. "It's just… I don't want to be a Tony Stark floosy doll… I want to stick around for a while,"

Tony watched the woman in front of him for a long moment before her brown eyes turned up to look into his own brown ones, old emotions flickering in hers. He loved her all over again but he couldn't tell her, not yet. It had been over fifteen years since he'd told someone that; his parents had died while Abby had left him and disappeared off the planet. He was positive that she was afraid that _he'd_ disappear on _her_ and forget about her but the fact was that he was afraid of exactly the same thing. What if she disappeared again and left him? He couldn't live without her… Yensin had made him realize that. It also made him remember why he was the Tony Stark he was today that went through more girls than Hawkeye Pierce went through nurses.

"Why didn't you ever come back?"

Abigail gave him a curious look and straightened away from the railing.

"You could have come back after you left Stanford," Tony elaborated, trying to get the words out before he could regret telling her any of this. "Instead of going to find yourself, you could have come back to me… We could have started all over again, dated, fallen for each other, the whole shebang. Why didn't you?"

She frowned, turning her back to him as she began to wring her hands nervously. He knew her to well to know that this was a conversation she didn't want to have either. But he needed to know why he hadn't been good enough for her, why she'd just up and left without barely a word.

"Tony…"

"You owe me, Abigail,"

She visibly winced at the sound of her entire name, something he didn't do often, even fifteen years later.

"It had already been two years when I decided to leave Stanford, Tony… By then I figured you'd moved on, found someone else, forgotten about me," She shrugged, wrapping her arms around herself as if to keep herself together.

"Then why didn't call?" he asked her, almost desperate for an answer. "Why didn't you call me or write me or messaged me or something?"

"Because I couldn't,"

"You couldn't? What, they don't have phones in Montana?"

"I couldn't call you," she told him, turning angry eyes on him. "Uncle Rick wouldn't let me,"

Tony gave her a confused look, stepping toward her. "Are you saying your uncle wouldn't let you call me? Are you kidding me?"

"I didn't have a choice, Tony," she told him, trying to get him to understand. "I was seventeen, still in high school. Uncle Rick was the only family I had. I couldn't just say no to him and expect him to be okay with that,"

"And you listened to him?"

"Are you seriously saying that I, as a seventeen year old, should have chosen you, a seventeen year old boy, over my only family?" she asked with angry sarcasm, giving an angry chuckle. "I loved you, Tony Stark, but you aren't going to make me regret choosing my uncle,"

"Who you then left two years later," Tony threw back at her. "Wasn't really much of a choice, was it?"

She stuck a finger in his face, angry eyes glaring into his. "Don't you dare, Tony. You don't know what happened after I left,"

"Yeah, I do," he snapped, stepping closer. "I was left alone after my parents died. I had no one but Obadiah, a bunch of paparazzi and a therapist because my girlfriend left. I never heard from her after that…"

Abigail's face changed at his words and her hand dropped to her side. "I'm sorry, Tony,"

He frowned at her, turning towards the railing. "You still could have called later, Abigail. At least _called_,"

She was silent for a long moment but he didn't dare look at her.

"After everything… I figured it'd just be easier for us to not see each other, just start over. Maybe it wouldn't be so hard,"

Tony laughed but it was such a horrible fake laugh that it made Abigail wince.

"Oh, Abs. You don't get it," Tony shook his head and leaned toward her, his mouth right next to her ear. "Not having you in my life… now _that_ was hard,"

Abigail was frozen in place as Tony stepped past her and headed back inside, letting her absorb that in her own time, heading straight for the bar. He needed a drink.


	14. Gulmira

**The One That Got Away**

* * *

**Chapter 14 – Gulmira**

* * *

"Tony Stark,"

Tony looked up to watch as a familiar blond stopped beside him, her smile bitter as she looked up at him. This was the woman that had told Tony about Abigail being in the hospital three months ago, the woman that was responsible for bringing the two together. Tony wasn't sure if he wanted to give her a million dollars or send her to Afghanistan.

"Fancy seeing you here,"

Tony tried desperately to recall her name. "… Carrie-"

"Christine," she corrected him.

"That's right,"

"How is Abigail? I see she's here with you tonight,"

"Yep. Yeah she is,"

Christine nodded. "You know, you have a lot of nerve showing up here tonight. Can I at least get a reaction from you?"

"Panic. I would say panic is my reaction,"

"Because I was referring to your company's involvement in this latest atrocity,"

"Yeah, they just put my name on the invitation. I don't know what to tell you,"

"I actually almost bought it, hook, line and sinker,"

"I was out of town for a couple months, in case you didn't hear-"

"Is this what you call accountability?" Christine interrupted, throwing down a stack of photos in front of him, watching as he picked them up and flipped through them. "It'd a town called Gulmira. Heard of it?"

Tony's eyes grew hard as he heard the name, remembering that it was the village that Yensin had been from, Tony's sticking to a picture of his Jericho missiles sitting at the center of the village surrounded by a few other of his inventions.

"When were these taken?"

"Yesterday,"

Tony sent the pictures aside and looked up at her. "I didn't approve any shipment,"

"Well, your company did,"

"Well, I'm not my company,"

Tony spotted Abigail walking back inside, her eyes moving over the crowd before they settled on his, looking shy and a little hurt. He gestured with his head for her to follow him outside when she could before having Christine follow him to the man he needed to speak to.

"Obie. I need to talk to you. Have you seen these pictures?" Tony asked as he pulled Obadiah off to the side, away from the reporters. "What's going on in Gulmira?"

Obadiah looked down at the pictures with very little reaction, just with a slight annoyance, almost like a parent finding their child with their hands in the garbage. "Tony, Tony. You can't afford to be this naive,"

"You know what?" Tony growled, thoroughly pissed at the prospect of what Obadiah was implying he'd allowed his company to do. "I was naive before, when they said; _Here's the line. We don't cross it. This is how we do business_. If we're double-dealing under the table… Are we?"

Obadiah sighed, placing an arm around Tony's shoulders. "Let's take a picture. Come on. Picture time!" He led Tony back towards the reports, smiling happily while Tony looked angry as the lights began to flash at him. Obadiah leaned towards Tony, keeping the smile on his face as he whispered; "Tony. Who do you think locked you out? I was the one who filed the injunction against you… It was the only way I could protect you,"

Tony was left on the steps of the Disney Concert Hall, watching his father's best friend disappear into the crowd, anger roiling up in his chest in a way that it had never down before. _His_ weapons, the ones he'd created to help save his country, save the world, were being sold to the other side just as readily and by his own business partner.

"Tony?"

He turned his head, tearing his eyes away from the spot that he had last lost sight of Obadiah and turned to look down at the woman next to him. Abigail.

"Let's go,"

She nodded, not wanting to argue as they made their Tony's car and sped home.

When they got home, Abigail went straight to her own bed to change and go to sleep. Tony didn't seem to be any position to be talked to, especially when he seemed on the verge of exploding at the nearest thing to bother him. So she wasn't going to be doing that.

She also didn't want to push if Tony was still mad after talking with her and she didn't exactly feel like talking with him either. A lot of things having been brought up that she'd hoped wouldn't have been in the time she was staying with him. So she went to bed without a word, curling up and falling asleep after an hour of listening to the various sounds of work and a few shattering windows; she hadn't expected him to sleep anytime soon. However, when she woke up the next morning, she wasn't expecting the note taped to her door.

_**Abigail-**_

_**I'm flying to Gulmira to deal with a few things. Be back in a few days. See you then. **_

_**-Tony**_

Abigail stared at the note for a long moment before she groaned and went back to bed for another few hours.

She got a half a dozen people that she knew from work… but it was the calls from her uncle that she was afraid to pick up on. She knew that he'd find out and it shouldn't have scared her. She was an adult, had been one for almost twenty years and had even been married for a few of them. She could make decisions on her own and do what she wanted.

But he was also her Uncle Rick.

He was the man who had taken her in at the age of eight after her mother had died in a car crash on the way to work. Even when his brother hadn't spent a moment to care about her or her mom, her Uncle Rick had. He'd taken her in and acted like she was his own daughter. He'd spoiled her with toys and clothes, had sent her to the best school and helped her with her homework. He taught her everything he knew about computers and code. He was her mentor and hero. She owed him everything.

So she didn't answer nor did she call back.

Two days later, Abigail was sitting at the computers down in the workshop. She had been dosing in the living room with a bowl of ice cream when she heard Rhodey's excuse for the saving of Gulmira the day before just that morning. This had sent Abigail into the workshop to track Tony's return back to Malibu, all the way down to his arrival to his house.

Abigail pretended to be working when Tony flew in, landing heavily on the workshop floor, his mask flipping up so that he could see her with his own eyes. She didn't look up, just kept working. He chose to ignore her as well, turning and having the machines strip off the armor, which ended up being harder the second time around.

"Hey!"

"_It is a tight fit, sir… Sir, the more you struggle, the more this is going to hurt_,"

"Be gentle. It's my first time… I designed this to come off, so- Hey! I really should be able to…"

"_Please, try not to move, sir_,"

"What's going on here?!"

Tony and Abigail both looked up in surprise to find Pepper walking through the glassless wall, her eyes wide as she looked Tony up and down.

Tony just shrugged internally. "Let's face it. This is not the worst thing you've caught me doing,"

"Are th-those bullet holes?"

"Probably," Abigail murmured, hitting one last key before heading towards the elevator. "I'm going to bed,"


	15. Obadiah Stane

**The One That Got Away**

* * *

**Chapter 15 – Obadiah Stane**

* * *

"_Hey_,"

Abigail groaned and rolled over in bed, bringing a hand up to cover her exposed ear.

"_Abigail. You up_?"

"No," she groaned at Tony's voice, glaring up at the ceiling where it was coming through the speakers. She didn't want to be up right now. She'd had a bad night's sleep and she wanted to make up for it by sleeping till noon. And she also didn't feel like talking to Tony.

"_I need you to do a favor for me. Come down to the workshop_,"

Abigail let out another groan before getting out of her warm bed and changing into day clothes, jeans a tank top and a black blazer, putting her hair up in a bun to hide that she hadn't done anything to it yet. She went to the kitchen first, grabbing a bottle of orange juice before returning to the elevator to head all the way down to the workshop, where Tony was waiting for her.

"You busy? You mind if I send you on an errand?" Tony asked without looking up from whatever he was messing with on his suit. "I need you to go to my office. You're going to hack into the mainframe and you're going to retrieve all the recent shipping manifests,"

"Why?" she asked, dragging out the word as she watched Tony roll away on his chair to get something from another desk.

"Obadiah's been dealing under the table and I'm going to stop him. I'm going to find my weapons and destroy them," he told her, rolling back towards her with his new contraption in his hands. "They're probably under Executive Files. If not, they put it on a ghost drive, in which case you need to look for the-"

"-lowest numeric heading. _I know_, Tony," Abigail interrupted, coming out of her shock. "How do you know he's double dealing… besides how creepy he is just normally,"

"Obie told me it was him. My weapons are everywhere on the wrong side of the line, they practically getting stock piled where I was being held. I can't let them be used for the wrong things,"

"And what do you plan to do with this information if I bring it back here?"

"Same drill as Gulmira,"

Abigail nodded. "Tony, you know that I would help you with anything… but you're going to kill yourself. I don't want to be a part of that. I told you that when we started all of this,"

"There is nothing _except_ this, Abigail," Tony suddenly boomed, his eyes moving to hers with harsh determination that scared her. "There is the next mission and nothing else,"

"Fine," she nodded, anger and pain in her eyes. "You obviously have it all figured out,"

"Abs…" the sound of her voice made her stop and turn. Tony was sagged back into his chair, his eyes elsewhere as he tried to explain to her. "I shouldn't be alive, unless it was for a reason, Abs… I'm not crazy. I just finally know what I have to do and I know in my heart that it's right,"

Abigail watched the man in front of her for a long moment before her resolve broke and she heaved a heavy sigh, leaning heavily against her cane. "I'll need security clearance and a flash drive,"

Tony looked up at her, looking almost surprised before he handed her a card. "This will get you into the building. It says that you're Pepper's assistant. It'll get you in anywhere," Next he handed her a cane, one that looked like it was made out of blue glass and steel. "This has a lock chip built in," Cue the lock chip popping out the side. "You can use it to get in and pull the files,"

Abigail nodded, taking it from him and replacing it with hers, leaning on it tentatively before putting more of her weight on it, happy to see that it wouldn't break. She looked up to see Tony still looking at her, his eyes dull but still alive as he took her and her hesitant smile in.

"Thank you, Tony,"

He nodded his head at her.

Abigail turned to leave again but stopped just in front of the elevator doors, turning around to find Tony still watching her.

"We need to talk…"

"Yeah, we do,"

"… I'm sorry," Abigail began slowly, her eyes slowly dropping to the ground. "I'm sorry I never called you. I probably should of but… I never knew,"

"I know," Tony nodded. "But you had to know that I loved you then. You could have come back and we could have picked up where we left off,"

Abigail raised her eyes to his, tears appearing at the corners. She'd been too afraid to hope back then… but she couldn't tell him that.

"How about we just start over? Right now?" Tony asked turning away from her, feeling uncomfortable with the amount of emotion he was seeing and feeling. "We'll just be friends. Clean slate. Just good collaborators and embarrassing memories. Deal?"

"…Deal,"

"Maybe even friends with benefits?"

Abigail couldn't help the laugh that escaped her mouth. "Now you're pushing it,"

Tony turned and smiled a true smile at her over his shoulder. "Completely worth it. After all, you are one of the best I've ever had,"

Abigail shrugged. "I've had better,"

Tony's look of mock-hurt had her chuckling as she disappeared in the elevator.

An hour later Happy had dropped Abigail off at Stark Industries, telling her that he'd be back for her in a half hour. She thanked him and turned towards the entrance of Stark Industries, feeling her nerves start to do a dance on her chest as she readied herself. With a deep breath, Abigail headed inside. It wasn't hard to get to the top floors of Stark Industries' executive building with the key card that Tony had gotten her. Next, she looked both ways before crossing the hall and entering the offices of the CEO's and other big guys, moving past the secretary area before slipping through the doors of Tony's office. Once inside, she took a deep breath as she leaned back against the door, feeling like she'd just ran a very scary marathon.

"You owe me, Anthony Edward Stark," Abigail growled to herself.

She moved to Tony's desk, slipping into his chair and turning on his computer, easily hacking her way into the system before anyone could be altered. She moved through the system with ease before finding everything that she was supposed to find… and more; Blue prints for a suit much like Tony's appeared on the screen, entitled Sector 16.

"What are you up to, Obadiah?"

Next was even worse. A ransom video, dated a day after Tony's and Abigail's convoy had been attacked and Tony had been kidnapped in Afghanistan appeared on the screen. Tony- blood and bandaged- was sat amongst a bunch of men with guns aimed, another speaking to the camera. Abigail had it translated and was in for a surprise.

"_You did not tell us that the target you paid us to kill was the great Tony Stark. As you can see, Obadiah Stane, your deception and lies will cost you dearly. The price to kill Tony Stark has just gone up_,"

Abigail exited and had the whole ghost drive downloaded to her cane which she hooked up to Tony's computer, looking like she'd laid her cane down… except for the thing sticking out of the side and into the computer. Luckily for her, she wouldn't have to worry about-

"So…"

Abigail almost jumped out of her seat, her eyes wide as she looked up to see Obadiah Stane standing in the doorway of Tony's office, a grin on his face as he watched her. It was almost like he was a predator and she was the prey and the both knew she'd been caught.

"… what are we going to do about this?" he asked, stepping inside and moving towards her. "No civilians allowed,"

"I'm not a civilian," Abigail hiccupped, trying to get the words out as fast as she could while trying to seem at least a little composed. "Tony had Pepper hire me as her assistant. I guess he figured that she needed a little break after all the grief he gives her. She liked the idea,"

"So why are you here?" Obadiah asked, still suspicious.

She smiled as sweetly as possible. "She wanted me to pick up a few things from Tony's office… since he can't really come here himself… and she's been so busy otherwise, so I said I'd do it,"

"Then why are you sitting there?"

"My knee hurts,"

"You couldn't have picked a different chair?"

"If you got the chance to sit in a billionaire's chair, wouldn't you?"

Obadiah didn't seem to buy her story completely and turned towards the wet bar, trying to act casual and failing just as badly as Abigail was. In that instant, she turned her eyes to Tony's computer and clicked the Show Desktop button, clearing everything from the screen while keeping the computer copying the files, then moving to the screen saver icon, allowing the various pictures of Tony's hotrod to resume on the screen. Someone might be able to figure out that she downloaded information by the icon that would show up once she was finished but right now she was just worried about getting caught by Obadiah.

"Pepper's a very rare woman. Tony doesn't know how lucky he is to have her," Obadiah commented, taking a drink of his brandy.

"He sure is. He probably couldn't tie his own shoes without her,"

Obadiah nodded. "Do you have your key?"

"Mhm," Abigail nodded, pulling it out of her pocket. "Right here,"

Obadiah looked up at it as he poured himself a drink, seeming disappointed at the sight of it in her hand, allowing her to be there. "Good. Don't want to lose that,"

Abigail smiled, tucking it into her pocket and moving her purse over her cane.

"He always gets the good stuff, doesn't he?"

Abigail shrugged at Obadiah. "I wouldn't know. I haven't seen him in over fifteen years. Since my Uncle Rick had us move when Pierce Industries was destroyed,"

Obadiah chuckled and ignored her comment. "I was so happy when he came home. It was like we got him back from the dead," Obadiah sighed, coming over to stand behind her, looking over her shoulder to see the computer screen. Abigail was suddenly happy she put the screen saver back up. "Now I realize, well, Tony never really did come home, did he? He left a part of himself in that cave. Breaks my heart,"

"Well, he's a complicated person," Abigail shrugged. "He's been through a lot but I'm sure he'll bounce back the way he always seems to. I think he'll be all right,"

An awkward silence descended that had she standing, pulling her cane off the computer as carefully as she could so he wouldn't be able to tell what she'd been doing. She grabbed her purse and moved to the bookshelf in search of something she'd seen on a show once.

"So what was it that Tony wanted you to get?"

Abigail grinned as she spotted an old book surrounded by other old books, this one with a cracked spine. She reached up and pulled it out, opening the cover to find two small booklets and a flash drive. She held up the booklets to Obadiah for him to see with a smile.

"His menus,"

With that, she exited, clutching her cane tightly as she made a show of limping out of Tony's office, waiting for the door to close before walking faster. What she didn't see was Obadiah checking the computer once she left, seeing the _Download Complete_ icon. He went to follow her out but watched as she approached a man in a suit, smiling at him happily and ushering him along with her.

"Yeah, they've been a little busy but _I'm_ about to give you the meeting of your life. _Your_ office,"


End file.
